


Scars

by Bubblegum73



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Captivity, Gen, I Don't Even Know, Kidnapping, Orcs, Protective Older Brothers, Scars, Secrets, Uncle Thorin, Uncle-Nephew Relationship, Why Did I Write This?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-09
Updated: 2020-08-11
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:27:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 40,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25163893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bubblegum73/pseuds/Bubblegum73
Summary: Life is great in the Blue Mountains, and Thorin knows that raising his nephews was the greatest gift of his life, but when one of his worst enemies that caused most of his grief comes back and takes Kili, Fili is determined to search everywhere for him. They set off into the darkness of the forest to look, but Kili's family can't help but worry that he won't last long enough to be found. Kili whump! Protective Fili and Thorin!
Relationships: Fíli & Kíli, Fíli & Thorin Oakenshield, Kíli & Thorin Oakenshield
Comments: 6
Kudos: 20





	1. A Fateful Death

**This is a new story that me and a couple of friends decided to write because who doesn't love some Kili whump, and brotherly feels? I do NOT hold back on the hurt Kili, I let him have it because I'm mean. ;) Protective Thorin is also so cute to write! Anyhoo, I hope you enjoy chapter one, and let me know what you think! One of the girls in our group created a fanfic account and it's on there too, but for readers on here, you're welcome! Read on!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the hobbit!**

* * *

Icy wind slashed at Thorin's face, rain dancing it's evil dance upon his head as he tried to gather his bearings, all the while sprinting through the forest faster than he thought he had ever moved in his life. He ran aimlessly through the trees and the leaves that were skidding at the wind that his legs and the air provided, as he sought out any form of track that could help his brother avoid the inevitable doom that Thorin had no doubt that he was about to receive. It pained him. It pained him more than words could describe. That orc, that creature, that monster, was going to pay for every bit of pain that was forced upon his little brother - that he vowed a very long while ago. The sword in it's sheath banged repeatedly against the bow that was laced across his back, as he stumbled down the path, the holes in his worn out boots turning his feet into blocks of ice.

Brother. _Where in Mahal's name are you?!_

The sound of a blood - curdling, absolutely horrific yet familiar scream vibrated in his ears and he peeked around the side of a tree at his little brother lying on the floor, Yaznug holding a knife above him. Thorin growled under his breath and silently unhooked his bow, notching an arrow and pulling the string back. He released. It missed. It missed Yaznug's filthy head, and the knife was brought down to end his brothers life. Thorin's heart shattered into a million little pieces as he looked away, trying to control his tears. This was his fault, and his alone. He whipped his head back and forth when he could bring himself to look back at the scene, and could see the filth nowhere. He cried in frustration and collapsed to his knees beside Frerin's body.

"Thorin?" He asked weakly, looking down at the knife imbedded in his stomach and his blood stained tunic.

"Frerin, hold on. I'm here, please hold on." Thorin for once let tears run down his face as he observed the scar embedded on his brothers face. It was the most horrifying scar he had ever seen, that started on his forehead and ventured down the side of his face, under his eye and ended under his lip. Thorin choked on his own shocked spit on laying his eyes on it.

"Frerin, hold on, please." Thorin begged, and watched helplessly as the life drained from his little brothers eyes. He let out a wail, and stood up angrily as he stalked into the woods. The anger seared through his veins, and in this moment he felt no other emotion. All he wanted was to end the life of that creature.

"Yaznug! You were too cowardly to fight me! Come out you beast!" He yelled, and to his surprise the orc actually stepped out from behind a tree, and Thorin drew his sword, and watched as Yaznug cackled.

"That is not the last pain I shall inflict upon your people, let me tell you that now. I gave Frerin the offer to fight me or stay as mine. But he decided to foolishly fight me, so it's his fault he died, not mine."

"You bastard!" Thorin screamed, charging at Yaznug who blocked the blow with ease. He brought a hammer on Thorin's back and Thorin crumbled to the ground.

"Don't you see? You will never kill me, even if you wanted to. Deep down you know that I made Frerin's life complete - he felt the connection that we shared too." Yaznug just shrugged before laughing. Thorin stood up on shaky legs and picked up his sword, holding it out defensively. The orc lunged at him, and Thorin stumbled back before stepping hastily to the side, and grabbing a knife out of his boot, as Yaznug jumped on top of him and knocked him to the ground. Thorin quickly stabbed his knife into Yaznug's shoulder who roared, but it didn't take long for him to recover as Thorin stood up, Yaznug grabbing his neck and forcing his back to hit a tree in the process, the bark causing holes to chip into his tunic. Thorin sword was knocked out of his hand and he cursed under his breath. He struggled in Yaznug's death grip on his neck, and saw only one option left. He yanked the knife out of Yaznug's shoulder and before the orc could react he plunged the sharp knife into one of the filthy creatures eyes. Yaznug made a noise in between a squeal and a roar, and Thorin let himself fall to the ground and relax for a moment, but when he looked back up Yaznug had gone.

Thorin couldn't bring himself to move though, and as he tried to stand on two shaky legs he realized that he couldn't stay awake any longer and he let darkness engulf him as his body made hard contact with the ground.

* * *

"Thorin? Thorin? Are you okay?" Balin. Thorin slowly opened his eyes and squinted at the brightness. He felt no ground beneath him, as it had seemingly evolved into a mattress. He was in a bed. He slowly moved his arms and was about to sit up when he felt two hands on his shoulders pushing him back down.

"Your not ready for that yet." Dwalin. He saw Oin gathering some healing supplies and walking over to him, shining a bright torch in his eye.

"Quit it!" He mumbled and Oin complied, before hurrying away to grab some tools.

"How are yer feeling?" Dwalin asked.

"I'm fine." Thorin mumbled, and then he remembered and it felt as though his entire world had collapsed around him. His eyes widened with worry and he looked around the room, feeling tears form in his eyes.

"Frerin?" he asked, looking at Balin, who shook his head sadly. Thorin sat up, despite everyone's protests and he put his face in his hands. He had failed. The little brother, who he had promised to protect, was dead. The grief was overwhelming, causing a nauseating pain, like a nightmare that he couldn't shake off. Dwalin sighed deeply, and Thorin could certainly detect sadness in it.

"I swear Thorin, that creature will have met the end of my axe by the time our lives are over." Dwalin promised, banging a fist to the table whilst Balin put a hand on his shoulder sadly.

Thorin growled deeply. "He will die."

* * *

After the funeral of his brother, Thorin spent most of his time in his room by himself, sitting with huddled up feet and buried in the corner of the sofa, tearing and twisting something with his slender, nervous fingers and gazing intently and fixedly at whatever his eyes chanced to fall on. If he wasn't doing this, he was angrily getting his hands on any sword possible and sharpening it, before chucking it to the side to clank in a large pile and taking more. Dis slipped quietly into her brothers room, and sighed putting her hands on her hips. He straightened his head before looking back down, leaning backwards against the wall.

"You know, sitting here all day isn't going to bring him back." She told him, sitting down next to him.

"He shouldn't be gone, sister. I am sorry I missed the shot. It was my fault, if I had jus..."

"Thorin Oakenshield! if you finish that sentence I will slit your petty throat. This was not your fault! I know how much Frerin meant to you - he meant everything to me too, but now we have to live on for him. He will always hold a place in our hearts, and.." She looked down at her belly and smiled slightly, breathing a small laugh. "And this baby will wish he or she had met his or her amazing uncle Frerin. Thorin, you've grieved before, and you can do it now. We will avenge him - Yaznug will die, you know nobody will feel safe to live until that filth dies." She told him.

Thorin nodded, smiling at his sister. She was right. He was being selfish. "And I have you. I don't know what I would do without you." He said, and Dis grinned as she embraced him. Thorin was never one to let out his emotions unless it was someone he cared for deeply. He pulled away and sighed which sounded like a hiss through his clenched teeth. "You are right, we cannot bring him back, and the Durin line will continue to live in his name. He will not be of any harm to this new babe." Thorin told her and she smiled.

"It's exciting. I've never had a child before." She murmured.

"What about names?" Thorin asked, deciding to change the subject to something happier that could lift their spirits.

"If it's a girl, Villi likes Falglia. If a boy, Fili." She replied, and Thorin smiled.

"I love them." He said, and helped Dis up as she exited the room and he looked out of the window with a sigh. Yaznug, I will kill you.

If it's the last thing I do.

* * *

**Chapter one! Poor Frerin :( I can imagine Dis being a really nice lil sis tho! What do you think? Next chapter will be a bit of a time jump.**


	2. Separate Training

Kili watched through a peek in the curtains as the skintillating fireball star crept into his line of sight, out of the inky black sky, and into the bright azure one. It was truly a beautiful landscape to wake up to, and he was making the most of the sun - it was supposed to storm in a few days, not that he particularly minded. Storms meant fun. He grabbed a couple of knives from his draw and heard his brother stir in one of the two beds in the room.

"Hey." he murmured sleepily.

"Hey. It's so sunny." Kili told him, pulling open the curtains and Fili moaned and covered his face with his arm, blocking out the blinding rays that forced themselves into his view.

"Kee!" He moaned, throwing the covers off of himself and he sat up, massaging his face, and rolled his eyes when he heard Kili snicker.

"Uncle was up like an hour ago - we're supposed to be going hunting with him today." Kili reminded.

"Oh yeah!" Fili exclaimed, yanking out a tunic from their wardrobe and throwing it over himself as he ran into the bathroom to braid his moustache. He sorted himself out before getting his hands on some knives (although he hated throwing knives - his aim was so much worse than his brothers) and bolting down the stairs to where his uncle was waiting.

"Ready?" He asked his eldest nephew.

"Aye." Fili replied. "Kili!" Thorin yelled up the stairs.

"Yeah?" Was the muffled response.

"We're going!" Kili went to pick up his bow where it lay against the wall, but Thorin wanted him to get better with a sword, and so he felt obliged to leave it. His body relaxed more when a bow was slung over his shoulder as it was so much more natural, but he knew Thorin was determined to increase his skill level with other weapons and he wanted nothing more to please his uncle. He jumped down the stairs and Thorin held the door open, the two princes exiting in synch and he followed closely behind them, into the mysterious forest.

* * *

Thorin, Fili and Kili trudged through the woods. The mud was quite deep today, so their uncle insisted that they wrapped up as best they could. After awhile of following his footsteps they made it to where Thorin was leading them - there was an array of grey rocks, and there was a circle of trees with an empty space between them.

"Okay, now we crouch behind these rocks and we wait." Thorin explained.

Kili raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Animals come here all the time, mainly stag. Fili, I want you to throw one of the knives in this bag, and then if you miss it we can practise tracking."

Fili nodded in understanding, and mentally prepared himself. "Okay." So they waited. And waited. Kili realized at that moment that he is a very impatient person, and bounced his foot up and down.

"Kili, stop." Thorin ordered.

"Okay, does anybody else find this bizarre come on it can't just be me?" He asked.

"What is bizarre?" Thorin asked.

"We're crouching behind rocks literally waiting for food when we could be out hunting it."

"Fili needs to improve his skills in this sort of thing, and if you carry on moving, nothing is going to come!" Thorin stated, and Kili nearly pointed out that he didn't actually answer his question, but he stopped himself.

"It's pointless." Fili groaned. "I can't do it." At that moment, before Thorin could reply, a deer bounded out of the bushes and Fili stood up, quickly lobbing a knife which missed the stag, though not by much. He cursed himself for rushing, but then again if he hadn't the deer would have been gone by the time he could say hello. Thorin hated watching people miss shots - it resurfaced memories that he had tried to bury long ago.

"Okay." Thorin murmured. "Tracking. Which way did the deer go, Fili?" The blonde looked to his brother who slipped behind Thorin and mouthed something.

"West." Fili replied confidently.

"Very good, now we follow it." Thorin ordered, and the two immediately scrambled up and obeyed. Thorin came to a halt after about ten metres. "Fili, look around. Tell me now which way the stag went." Kili watched his brother wander around, looking for something that Kili knew wouldn't catch Fili's eye. He glanced at the deep mud, noticing the light stag footsteps embedded in it that were barely visible.

Fili cursed under his breath - the pressure to do this right was overwhelming, with two people who could track well, it was all down to him. He looked up at his uncle who had his arms crossed, and Fili hissed out a breath through clenched teeth. He glanced at his brother whose eyes flicked quickly to some deep mud, a gesture that Thorin disregarded to his utmost relief. Fili peeked in that direction and it was then he noticed what his brothers sharp eyes had noticed, and he smiled slightly. He ambled over and grinned, calling his two family members across. Thorin looked impressed.

"Well done Fili, now track the stag." Thorin instructed, gesturing for Fili to lead the way. Fili walked unconfidently through the mud, though with each step he found that his confidence lifted a little bit more, yet it all dropped when he got to the end of the trail. _Where was it?! Had he tracked the wrong direction?_ The tension that had built in his shoulders relaxed considerably when he looked up and spotted the stag through some trees, which stood nibbling at some grass. Fili weaved silently through the trees and pulled a knife from his boot as quietly as he could, which was thankfully silent enough to be unheard. He waited a moment to calm his rapid breaths before he quickly jumped out from behind the tree that he had been squatting behind and chucked the knife which pierced the stag in between the eyes, much to the blonde heirs satisfaction and he smiled in triumph, hopping over to the squealing animal to finish it off.

"We'll be eating well tonight!" He called and the two brunettes stopped and grinned.

"Very good Fili. See, you can do it." Thorin praised and Fili shot a grateful smile at his brother, who nodded, going unnoticed by Thorin who was picking up the stag. After that Thorin commanded that they leave for they had gotten a large enough animal for the day, and Fili trotted behind Thorin, spinning around in shock when a pile of leaves entered his hair and fell messily down his body. He glared at his brother who just laughed, and to his surprise, Fili suddenly had a handful of leaves and threw them over his own head. Kili opened his mouth to speak but clamped it shut and pushed Fili down into a large pile of leaves, who grabbed Kili's ankle and soon they were both rolling around on the ground like idiots, clothes getting mucky which unimpressed Thorin, but they honestly forgot he was there.

"Thank you for earlier." Fili muttered as they attacked one another. "I feel triumphant."

Kili pinned his older brother down by the shoulder. "Yeah? So you should let me win this war." He answered, splatting more mud on Fili's face who laughed, and Kili stuck his tongue out playfully.

"Why was he thanking you for earlier?" Thorin demanded, and they looked up at him in surprise, immediately untangling themselves from one another and coughed awkwardly. He had his arms crossed and looked rather vexed, an expression of frustration evident on his countenance. Kili bit his bottom lip in shame.

"Nothing." Fili answered for the both of them. Thorin sighed and spun around to face the younger.

"Do you not understand that if you help him he is never going to learn? I refuse to keep bringing you on these trips if you are going to continue burdening us with your pity for my heir! He needs to learn this incase one day he needs to track!"

"Uncle. Why do I need to track so badly? If I ever need to track anything I'll just have Kili do it for me!" Fili protested before Kili could answer.

"What if Kili is stuck in the forest with a bad injury and you are the one tracking him? What are you going to do then?"

"Have you track it." Kili muttered, thinking that Thorin wasn't going to hear, but he did.

"And what if I'm not with him? He needs to learn this! And that is why you won't be coming with us on these trips anymore."

"What? Uncle..." Fili started, but Thorin held up a hand to interrupt him.

"My decision is final." He declared and received two pairs of teary puppy eyes. He exhaled sharply, realizing his mistake. "I am sorry for yelling. But you two need to understand that improving your weaknesses will make you much better warriors in future. You will thank me one day." He elucidated in a much softer and kinder tone, before swivelling on his heels and leading the way home.

So after Fili and Kili shared a glanced, they trudged after their uncle, mostly silent unless one of them tried to protest but they both knew that Thorin would not be swayed.

* * *

Thorin said his goodbyes at the forge and left for lunch. He usually went out with Dwalin to eat at the same bar every day but he had told his nephews he wanted lunch with them today, as he wanted to explain a few things. He generally didn't want to separate his nephews, but he knew it was needed if he wanted their skills to improve. Both brothers couldn't bare being apart for more than a few hours - the bond they shared was unlike any other Thorin had seen, and that included his bond with Frerin, and everyone knew that that had been something magical. He had decided to go to a different bar today, where it was less loud, and he waited impatiently outside it's front door. He leaned his head against the brick, having a silent debate in his head, wondering is his nephews had decided to stand him up as they had figured out what he wanted to talk to them about. He was relieved when he saw them walking over to him from far down the street, in a hushed conversation about something or another. He could spot them from a mile away, blonde hair and brown hair not exactly camouflaging against each other.

"Ok, we're here, what?" Kili asked once they knew that Thorin was in ear shot.

"Lovely attitude." Thorin said sarcastically, as he rubbed a fist to his forehead, before opening the door and leading them inside. It was more of a restaurant and looked much posher than he imagined when Dori told him about it, with tables laid out in an orderly manner and everyone was very nicely dressed. He could have just explained what he wanted to explain to his nephews when he got home, but his days in the forge were painfully long and he would rather face their wrath whilst he was still somewhat awake.

"Welcome! Welcome, exiled king!" One of the restaurant ladies ran over. "Come, sit." Kili recognized her. Years ago his friend had written a play, though wasn't allowed to use the local theatre as the story was too 'disturbing' so he had found this lady and she paid the money for it so that her own son could have a part, which they hadn't known at the time, and he was terrible so they trapped him in Kili's friend's basement and left him with food whilst the play went on. Their son had resented him and Fili much before then, so it was almost payback. His name was Lud, and any opportunity that he got to pick on the duo, he would, and Kili thought that it was because he was jealous of their position. Not that it really meant anything in the Blue Mountains.

"Oh, it's you!" Kili exclaimed.

"Hmm?" She asked politely.

"Remember? You produced my friends play."

"Oh yeah. You are one of the kids that trapped my son in a basement."

Kili bit his bottom lip. "Oh, uh...did we?" He asked. She rolled her eyes, leading them over to a round table, and pulling out the chairs, causing a painful scrape to sound in their ears.

"I have three lovely seats by the window. One for Thorin, one for his heir, and one for the guy who tried to kill my child."

Kili sat down awkwardly. "Thanks and uh...sorry for trapping your son."

"It's okay. Someday I will get my revenge." She promised, before walking away.

"What?" Kili asked. Thorin and Fili immediately leant forward.

"Who is her son?" Fili asked, and Kili looked around wearily to make sure nobody was listening.

"Lud." he mumbled.

"Kili." Thorin scolded.

"Is that why he hates us?" Fili asked.

"No! He hated us way before then." Kili promised, before looking around wearily.

"Uncle, is there a reason we're here, or...?" Fili trailed off as he changed the subject, and Thorin rubbed a fist to his forehead and looked at them both, squaring his shoulders to prepare for outbursts.

"It's about the separate training."

"Oh uncle, why can't we j..." Fili started to protest but Thorin held up a hand to interrupt him.

"I have already told you my decision is final. You will come hunting with me every day until your knife and tracking skills improve, and Kili, you shall improve your sword abilities with Dwalin in the afternoon and in the morning Balin can tutor you to knock up your grades, because that is definitely needed. Especially history and science. Clear?"

"No please! Anything but tutoring, I hate it." Kili whined.

"Maybe if you started to pay attention you would be able to pass."

"It's so boring!" He complained.

"That's your fault for not focusing." Thorin told him, and Kili threw his head back and groaned.

"I just don't get it! The past is the past, we should be learning about what's going to happen in the future! When are we generally going to put history to use in our life?" Kili asked, and Fili glanced at him and nodded, before looking expectantly at his uncle, wondering if Thorin would have an answer. Thorin generally didn't have a brilliant response - his nephew had a point. Nobody would really put the fact that there was a battle in the past to use now, but then he realized the more that he thought about it that he did had a reasonable response.

"If you don't learn the runes how will you ever read them when we take back Erebor?"

"So suddenly we're journeying to slay a dragon?" Kili raised an eyebrow and Thorin rolled his eyes, though the question stung. It was all he wanted to do: for his nephews, for his people, for avengeance.

"People who don't know their history are fated to repeat it." Thorin added simply, ignoring Kili's remark. "If we didn't have history there would be no future, would there?" Kili seemed to process this in his mind, and grimaced at the thought. Thorin never knew if his nephew actually ever listened to anything that Thorin told him in life if it was something boring yet useful, but Kili's self debate at this moment seemed to prove that he did. "Anyway." he addressed the eldest. "Is that clear?"

"Aye." Fili declared, and decided to try one more time. "But I just don't see wh..." 

"You'll see when you have mastered everything that there is to master." Thorin fiercely told him, and Fili hung his head to stop himself from protesting. "When you are together you just mess around, how is that going to get you anywhere?"

"Yeah, but science?" Kili moaned.

"Science is life." Thorin told him.

"Science is pointless actually! I mean, who cares why a cell divides? It just does." The brunette muttered. Thorin looked at the ceiling in exasperation - somehow his youngest nephew always had a response, and he never knew why, but fear always lingered somewhere in the air when he was around Kili. He could never put a finger on what it was, but the agitation would never leave him alone, and he knew that Kili saw him as some mighty hero. Fili too, but to a lesser extent, and he tried his hardest to live up to their expectations.

Kili didn't want to be separated from his brother - Fili was the whole reason he was able to do anything. Fili convinced his uncle to let him do archery, Fili practically did his work for him when he was stuck, Fili came to his aid when he needed adventure - now he was training and learning alone. It would be so much more boring, and he already knew that every session would seem to last ten times longer. A lady interrupted his thought trail when she walked over with a tray.

"What can I get you?" She asked politely.

"Ale please." Thorin murmured, and Fili nodded.

"Me too."

"What about you?" She asked Kili, who looked up, starting to feel a little faint. He had had a headache for the whole day due to lack of sleep the night before, but now his stomach hurt.

"Nothing." He replied.

"Come on, you must want something. You come here to eat or drink, right?" She asked.

Kili looked up in annoyance. "I'm not thirsty."

"Do you have any idea how inadequate this makes me feel as a waitress?" She asked, a cheeky spark in her eye.

"Two words." Kili murmured.

"I bet they won't be helpful." Fili sang.

"Your problem." Kili told her.

"I was right." The blonde dwarf finished.

The waitress crossed her arms, observing him. "I'll get those for you." She told them, before turning away. Kili watched her leave, and slowly stood up, feeling a little faint.

"We aren't finished here." Thorin called.

"I know, I'll be back." He quickly ran off to the bathroom and collapsed to his knees, finding himself vomiting into the toilet, before looking up and sitting on it with the lid closed. He put his head in his hands. _What was wrong with him?!_ He couldn't describe his was mood today, and no matter how much his uncle and brother asked he would say it was nothing, because it probably was! He rubbed his eyes and realized that he didn't think he had ever felt this tired. All he wanted to do was rest and soak in the calming peace of nature. A dreamless sleep, or at least something relatively happy, for once not not disturbing. He was constantly feeling weird lately - always having nightmares about the same orc - he was so very pale and wore an eyepatch, but he didn't have any idea who the orc was, and he didn't understand why. The dwarf didn't tell anyone though, for it was his burden to bear. _Wow,_ he thought. _My imagination is my burden._ He stood over the sink and took a deep breath, running the tap and splashing his face with freezing water, and he felt a bit more awake, so he dabbed his face with a towel and walked back to where his family were still seated.

"Kili, are you ok?" Fili asked for what seemed like the millionth time that day, looking up at his brother.

"I'm fine."

"Maybe we should leave." Fili suggested.

"Aye." Thorin agreed. "Yeah, I think I'll try and sleep when we get home." Kili told them, quick to agree.

"No, I mean to take you and see a doctor." Thorin said, grabbing his coat from the back of his chair.

"No I'm fine, I'm just tired!" Kili quickly protested. "I really just need to sleep." After a debate Thorin agreed reluctantly to skip the doctor visit, and he trudged back to the forge whilst Fili and Kili headed home. Kili went straight into the room that he and Fili shared and collapsed on the bed, shutting his eyes to the world, even though it was only one o clock and he knew he was supposed to have a training lesson with Dwalin in the afternoon. He easily managed to succumb to the darkness, but regretted it straight away.

_"Don't worry my Kili. Everything is going to be okay." The orc teased, and Kili backed away a step, holding out his sword in defense. He stood in front of Fili's dead body, that he had been wailing over less than thirty seconds ago, and charged at the creature but he then realized that he was stabbing his sword into air. The orc was gone. Was he hallucinating? His head was whirly with visions and he collapsed in front of his brother. He brought Fili's head into his lap and sobs racked his body, as he cradled his big brother in his arms. His protector. His guide. His best friend. The orc re-appeared out of nowhere, and all he could do was watch as the orc held up his hammer, and brought it down, and..._

Kili woke with a start and a slight scream that was muffled by the duvet covers. The more he thought about it, the more he wondered why he was dreaming about orcs when he barely even knew what they looked like! He had seen a couple, but not long enough to study their features. Then again, they had killed his mother, after all. He sat up and rubbed his eyelids, breathing heavily, and looked at his brother who was staring at him concerned.

"What's the matter?" Fili asked. Kili swallowed.

"Nothing. I'm fine." He mumbled.

"Quit saying that. Something's wrong. I know something is wrong, I'm your brother." Fili sat on the end of Kili's bed. "Nightmare?" Kili nodded. "Tell me about it." Kili looked at him in question. "It helps." The brunette sighed and obeyed, describing the dream to his brother in every little detail. Fili listened intently.

"It was terrifying. I thought you were dead." Kili finished, trying to tell himself it wasn't real, though he couldn't shake away the feeling from his gut that something bad was going to happen. Fili looked thoughtfully at the floor for a second.

"This isn't the first time you've had this nightmare, is it?" He asked, once again raising his head.

Kili shook his head. "I have it almost every night and I don't know why. It's like a warning."

"When did this start?" Fili asked.

"A couple of months ago." Kili answered quietly.

"You should have said something."

"Sorry." Fili turned to look at his brother.

"Promise me that if this happens again you will wake me?"

Kili nodded sleepily in response. "Promise."

* * *

Fili sat lazily on the couch, coffee in hand. He could hear the sharp thunder outside which was rattling the window pane and the odd flash of light appeared and left faster than he could blink when lightning made an appearance. He worried for his uncle who despised the rain with a passion. He personally would hate it to be hot all year round, although summer was his favourite season, because the rain is a break, and he knew Kili loved it. They would spend hours as dwarflings jumping around the puddles, normally resulting in fevers but the fun made it definitely worth while. His eyes flicked up when he heard the crash of the front door opening and Thorin trudging in, hanging his soaking wet furs on the hook and smiling at his nephew as he tugged off his drenched boots.

"Greetings." Fili said.

"Hi." Thorin answered. "I didn't go to the shop and I'm sorry dinner is gonna b..."

"It's fine. Kili's on it." Thorin smiled and sunk down on the other chair. "How was the forge?" Fili asked.

"There is a new guy and he's really shady because he escaped an orc raid and nobody in the Blue Mountains seems to know him, though he claims he travelled from the Iron Hills looking for work. He is very skilled with forging though, he's so precise to detail so if he's telling the truth we might need to send out a troop to track down the orcs." Thorin explained, tilting his head back and massaging his temples. "I'm not in the mood to fight orcs."

"That's worrying." Fili decided.

"Nothing to worry your little head about. What's for tea?" He asked, striding into the kitchen. Little?! Fili huffed as he followed Thorin into the room next door.

"Fili wanted pasta, so I am obeying his wishes because I am a lovely person but he isn't being very helpful." Kili hinted, and Fili rolled his eyes. "Please make the spaghetti." Kili begged and soon all three were cooking in the kitchen, helping where they could and they had a joyful time. Usually the three together in the kitchen ended disastrous because they were much better at cooking apart - there aren't any distractions. This one meal was successful though, and Thorin realized for what was most certainly not the first time in his life, how grateful he was to have two nephews that helped him grasp hold of any light and enjoy his life in the darkest of times.

* * *

**This just sets it all up, but the next chapter gets more interesting, and action will pack its way in soon! What do y'all think?**


	3. A Kidnapping

**Chapter threeee! The action starts in this chapter, leading up to a series of unfortunate events :) Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

The separate training had been going on for four weeks now, and it was agitating Fili and Kili to no describable end. They worked better together - every dwarf in the Blue Mountains knew this fact but their stubborn uncle refused to accept that as a fact.

Kili rested his head against his palm as he listened to Balin ramble, thoughts swirling in his mind, though his eyes were fixed on the paper so it looked as though he was listening. He had a headache from sitting inside, and all he wanted to do was bolt across a field like a madman and scream. No phrase would suffice the description of how bored he was at this very moment.

"So they used to write the ancient runes on the walls for us dwarves who are studying history now, and that is generally how we are able to study and how I can explain everything to you at this very moment."

"Mmm, interesting." Kili mumbled.

"And we are able to read them from the few people that survived the battle and were able to teach, or write diaries that to this day sit dusty in our cupboards. Now I've taught you these runes before..."

"Mhm."

"So what is this one?" Balin asked, sliding a piece of paper across the table. Kili stared at it blankly, and Balin sighed. "Are you alright lad?"

"Do you think Fili is okay?" Balin just sighed deeply.

"He'll be fine, laddie."

"But he's stuck with my uncle who can be so pressurising!"

"Is something else on your mind?"

"Not really. Thorin gave me so many chores and I haven't done any."

"You can go when you tell me these three runes." Balin told him, and Kili sat up from his slumped position and glanced at the page wearily.

"That's EA...thats Y and that's..." Kili stared at it, no emotion on his countenance showing that he understood what he was looking at.

"That's R. Take these. Learn this laddie, you need to know them." Balin warned.

"Thanks." Kili mumbled, and with that he swung the door open, a creak sounding in his ears, and he left the house. The dwarf made it back to his own home and slowly pushed open the door, before stepping inside. He hated being home alone - it felt dangerous, especially recently. He pulled out a duster and started on the chores.

* * *

"Fili, focus." Thorin ordered to his pacing nephew as he struggled with understanding the point of tracking, and noted how Fili constantly ran his hands through his hair, looking ready to tear it out at any moment.

"How?!" He asked exasperated. "I'm trying uncle, honestly I am, but I can't do it!" Thorin sighed and put two hands on his nephews shoulders.

"Fili, look at me." he ordered, but not unkindly. Fili raised his eyes to look into his uncle's. "Tracking, is much more than just aimlessly wandering around unable to focus. It's about what you can hear, and feel, not just what you see." Thorin removed his hands from his nephews shoulders. "Close your eyes. Take deep breaths." Fili obeyed, and his head stopped swimming for a moment, and he could sense Thorin moving away. He weaved in and out of some trees, and placed his dagger on the ground, before swiftly making his way back to his now calm nephew. "Okay, find the dagger." Fili opened his eyes and glanced at the ground.

"Well, I heard you move this way." he entered an area of deeper mud and smiled. "Your footprints lead through here..." He looked around thoughtfully when he got to the end of the footprints. "So you either went this way or East...I feel like you went East. I heard you shift this way." Fili went where his gut told him, and he yelled in triumph as he picked up his dagger off of the ground.

Thorin clapped with a smile. "Well done Fili! See, tracking is not just about what you can see." Thorin told him. "I think you may be finally improving. Lets go and tell your brother of your success. Maybe he would like to see it the next time we go." Fili squealed in excitement.

"Thank you uncle!" He exclaimed, meaning every syllable sincerely as he followed Thorin through the forest to where he knew his brother and Dwalin would be training.

* * *

Kili grabbed his bow and headed to the training fields on the outskirts of the forest. He knew Dwalin would bring him a sword, as he didn't actually own one himself. Thorin told him and Fili that when they turned fifteen they had to pick their main weapon of choice, and when Kili had picked a bow he knew Thorin was secretly disappointed and constantly tried to sway him from his decision, and wished his youngest nephew would be more like Fili who picked dual swords. That didn't mean his uncle wasn't impressed with Kili's skills with a bow - he could shoot better than any dwarf in the Blue Mountains, and even some elves, but Thorin bought him a dagger for his birthday last year, just for another attempt. Kili had been saddened at the sight of the small box that Thorin handed him but the moment that he laid eyes on the dagger inside, he had been amazed at its beauty and every little intricate detail and he had eagerly agreed to the new training and was soon just as skilled with a throwing and wielding a dagger as he was with a bow. He knew he needed to use a sword better though, and that's why every afternoon he was training with Dwalin and sometimes Gloin. It was harder though, as his mind constantly flicked to his older brother somewhere in the wood with his uncle, and his worry was annoying for whoever was trying to teach him. This he knew that but he generally couldn't help it. He was pulled from his thoughts when he made it to the training grounds, and he couldn't see Dwalin or Gloin, causing a frown to break out onto his countenance. He thought _he_ was late.

"Dwalin?" he called, and got no answer. He sighed and knocked an arrow, aiming for a target that he had set up yesterday on a rowan tree in the distance. Maybe whoever was training him had been held up. This was a good way to waste time. He shot two arrows and they hit their mark, right in the centre, and he beamed in triumph, although he was used to the success. Kili shot another one but this time heard a crash in the woods and he jumped out of his skin, his bow flying in the wrong direction to aim the wrong way. His arrow whizzed completely where he didn't want it to go, and the young dwarf growled in annoyance.

"Mahal why." he muttered under his breath before dropping his bow and making his way into the woods and looking around, unable to see the arrow that he had lost. He pushed his foot around a pile of leaves which was a completely pointless exercise, but he felt the need to try. He cursed at the effort that this was taking, but had a much bigger reason to curse when he looked up and could have sworn that his heart fell out of his chest.

"Looking for this?" The most ugly looking orc Kili had ever seen in his life, asked with a creepy smile on his face. He choked on his own spit as the orc held out his arrow. "Are you a mute?" The orc teased and Kili sucked in a breath.

"No..." He murmured.

"Ah, he speaks!" The orc yelled up a hand victoriously, before kneeling down next to the young dwarf, who just happened to be completely weaponless, aside his favourite dagger that Thorin had bought him for his birthday, but he was too terrified to reach into his boot and grab it, or even move. "Why are you so afraid to speak to me? You've never met me before. I have definitely met you though. Once. I'd heard about you, the young raven prince. You reminded me of someone I once knew." _What's that supposed to mean?!_ The orc looked around thoughtfully. Kili took that moment to kick the orc in the back of the leg, but only succeeded in making it stumble, much to his dismay. It snickered and turned around.

"What do you want?" Kili finally asked, finding his voice and raising his chin. The orc smiled and put the tip of his finger under Kili's chin.

"I want many things, little one." Kili took that moment to observe him. He had a huge scar on his face, an ugly red colour and it travelled from his forehead and ventured down the side of his face, under his eye and ended under his lip. His face was littered with other marks, and he wore a black eyepatch that had definitely had its better days, and he didn't seem to have any company.

"Yaznug!" A voice behind him growled and he turned around to look at Gloin who drew his sword threateningly, knowing that killing this orc would be avengence. Kili sighed in relief, but worry still swirled in his gut for his friend. The orc snickered and yelled out a command in black speech, and around forty orcs all came flooding out of the trees, Kili only being able to looked on in shock.

"Kili! Do you have a weapon?!" Gloin yelled over the fighting.

"Aye!" He called back, pulling his favourite dagger from his boot. He used it to stab an orc that lunged at him, and was rather satisfied - his first kill! He twisted around to see Gloin fighting four orcs, and he ran over to help, but was held back by a group of five orcs to himself. He stabbed one in the shoulder, and looked around for the giant orc who was nowhere to be seen. The same orc that had haunted his nightmares. He was drawn out of his daze by a smack to the back of his neck, and he heard Gloin yell his name. He cursed at the size of his small weapon - a sword would be better in this situation - but he still managed to snap the neck of a creature with bare hands, before punching one to make its nose bleed the vile black orcish blood and while it was distracted stab him. He then turned and head-butted another one, something he had never tried before and raised his eyebrows when he saw that it had worked.

Gloin growled at the vicious enemies that he was fighting, and looked over desperately to see how Kili was doing, and was proud to see that the lad was coping pretty well considering he only had a dagger. He tried to get to him but there seemed to be more and more orcs flooding in through the trees, and he yelled out loud in khuzdul, as he smashed his axe into the hip of an orc.

"Kili run!" he yelled over to the young dwarf.

"I'm not leaving you!"

"I said go, obey my orders! Now!" He ordered loudly, and grumbled as his distraction got him a blow in the side of a neck, and he already knew that it was bleeding heavily. _Where is Dwalin?!_ The warrior was supposed to be training Kili today, Gloin had just been passing by, and he wished that his friend was here to help them right now. He had to get Kili out of there though, this he knew, for Thorin would never forgive him if something happened to his nephew, and he would never forgive himself. He watched Kili contemplate his orders for a moment, and smiled as something clicked in the young dwarf's brain and he darted away. His smile transformed into a growl of annoyance in less than a second when Kili was stopped dead in his tracks, and Gloin got so distracted at surveying his options that an arrow ended up imbedded in his arm, and the next thing he felt was the edge of a hammer smashing into his skull and he fell to the ground with a cry.

Kili bolted for the path in the woods, the thought that he could find Fili and Thorin somewhere as they were tracking and would be able to help, giving him all of the energy that he needed to move his legs. Fast. However, he skidded to a halt as the same giant orc that had spoken to him earlier stepped out from behind a tree, pausing his run and he looked behind its shoulder, desperate to get assistance to help Gloin. The orc wore a wicked smile that looked much to casual for this situation, making Kili feel even worse - if that was even possible. Worry, anger and desperation weren't the best emotions to be feeling all at once - especially when meanwhile you are panting breathlessly! It was all too sudden and overwhelming. He gulped.

"Come now." The orc teased. "I'm not that scary, am I?" Kili turned the other way but the orc was so much bigger and faster than he, and was at his side in an instant and easily clamped a hand over the brunette's exposed mouth. Kili squirmed in his grip and looked up with wide eyes as another orc raised an axe high above his body, and brought it down onto the prince's head, and the last thing Kili saw was Gloin crumble to the ground before darkness engulfed him.

* * *

Fili practically skipped through the forest as he pictured his younger brothers happy face when he relayed the news that they would be training together once again. His contented grin turned to a confuzzled frown when he saw something worryingly familiar imbedded in some thick muck on the ground.

"Isn't this Kili's arrow?" Fili asked. Thorin wandered over and picked up the arrow off of the ground, observing it closely. He saw a crimson stain of wet blood and his breath caught in his throat for a moment, but he breathed deeply to stay calm and not scare his nephew. He tried to block out the terrible scenarios of what seeing a fresh and dark blood stain on the back of your kins arrow could possibly lead to.

"Aye. Maybe he lost it." the exiled king muttered, trying to ignore the bad feeling that was swirling around in his gut, but that was truly impossible when he turned the corner of the forest path and gasped, clamping two hands over his mouth. Fili hastily ran over to stand a his uncle's side and gasped too at the horrifying sight. Dead bodies of orcs completely littered the ground, and he couldn't see any trace of Dwalin or Kili where they would usually be training at this moment. Thorin scanned the dead bodies with practised eyes and then he saw it. His friend lying motionless on the ground. His brain immediately jumped to conclusions, forcing him to picture the worst possible outcomes. Fili eyes grew frantic and he immediately started to scream his brothers name. The lad had been involved in something capable enough to take down someone as strong as Master Gloin. The blonde heir's heart pounded rapidly in his chest, getting more and more quick with every step that he took and every second that ticked by, none containing the miraculous discovery of his brother with a huge grin on his face, bragging about how he had slaughtered his first orc before Fili himself had ever had the chance to. He watched in terror as Thorin ran towards his fallen friend and collapsed to his knees beside the body. Fili's bones numbed and he carried on screaming, though his body was unable to move.

Thorin checked Gloin over, jostling his injuries as he shook the warrior's shoulders who stubbornly refused to awaken. Thorin then altered to tapping his cheek lightly and gently called his name, but his friend was just as unresponsive as he had been when Thorin first found him. His mind flicked to Kili and he looked around for the lad who seemingly wasn't anywhere among the bodies and dread filled Thorin's heart once again. His youngest nephew, the one who could brighten any room he entered, the one who would never hurt anyone, was missing.

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**Dun dun duuunnn! Now the fun starts :) What do you think so far? Reviews, follows and favs are always appreciated!**


	4. Reactions

Thorin looked around the battlefield, with absolutely no idea what to do. Fili was having a mini heart attack as he ran around the swarm of dead bodies, concerned that his brother had most likely been involved in whatever was dangerous enough to take down someone as strong as Master Gloin, and he screamed Kili's name but never once got a response, so he took deep, shuddering breaths to stop himself from collapsing, and slowly moved towards his uncle who gestured him over.

"Fili, I need you to run as fast as you can and get Oin." Thorin declared.

"No! Uncle we have to keep looking! He must be around here so..."

"That was an order!" Thorin bellowed, worry for friend making him panic, and Fili's eyes widened at his uncle's tone, the furiousness in it had him nodding, and he bolted away. Thorin pushed his fingers to Gloin's neck and felt a pulse - a very light pulse, but a pulse nonetheless. He begged Mahal to let his friend live. In the time that Fili was gone his mind wandered to his youngest nephew. He would never forgive himself if something happened to that boy - he had promised Dis he would protect them both with his life and he was determined not to break that promise. He hoped Gloin had the answers, because he couldn't bear to lose Kili - the light of their lives. If they did he would lose both of his nephews and he knew it - Fili would be broken beyond repair without Kili, and the guilt of shouting mere seconds ago rushed through him and he looked up sadly. This wasn't Fili's fault.

Thorin rung his hands impatiently and was just about to stand up to go and grab the old healer himself when Fili tore through the bushes, followed by not only Oin, but Balin, Dwalin, Bofur and Nori also swam into his sight. He watched as Oin crashed to his knees and started muttering to himself as he poked and prodded at his brothers various wounds, and when he got to the arrow in his arm he frowned.

"What is it?" Balin asked, concern evident in his eyes that held many years of knowledge and wisdom.

"I don't know whether it is poisoned or not, but we need to treat him immediately if it is, so we need to get him back to the healing rooms and quickly, without jostling him. A stretcher will work if you can make one." Oin explained, and the six of were immediately getting to work on their assigned task, minus Fili who was still screaming his brother's name, but Thorin didn't have the heart to stop him. They hastily gathered the pieces from various areas of the forest to put something together at least - it wasn't brilliant, but it would do. The company hauled Gloin on and made to move away, when Thorin grabbed Fili's arm.

"Fili, I need you to help us carry him back to the house." Thorin told him gently.

"No, uncle! Kili must be around here somewhere. We just have to..."

"Fili. Listen, I want to find Kili as much as you do, but the only way for that to happen is if we find out what happened here. And for that we need Gloin to wake. I don't want to worry about you on top of Kili and Gloin, so please come back. For me?" He asked, looking desperately into Fili's blue orbs. Fili had never heard his uncle beg before, and the pleadiness reflected through his eyes into Fili's had the blonde heir nodding once again, and he helped them manhandle the warrior back to the house. It felt like betrayal, leaving without barely having searched, but in all honestly he cared about the old injured warrior. When it was about Kili, Fili lost all common sense but right now Thorin had implanted the fact that they needed Gloin to wake for them to even no where to start searching for Kili, and so common sense was half present in his addled mind. Besides, Thorin had ordered Balin and Bofur to stay and search for any sign of his brother.

They put Gloin on a sturdy patient cot. Oin carried on examining his wounds with quick, practised hands whilst Thorin and Fili paced in the other room, Oin having kicked them out in annoyance with their constant striding. Thorin heard the sound of muffled voices and re-entered the room.

"What's going on?" He demanded, and Balin looked at him.

"The arrow wasn't poisoned. They weren't planning to kill, they wanted something else." Oin explained, frowning as he looked at his brother's shoulder.

"Well, what did they want?" Thorin asked.

"Who knows." Dwalin muttered.

"Dwalin? Why was Gloin even there?"

"I was running late, I don't know why Gloin was there. He was probably passing by." Dwalin answered gruffly, as he plonked himself on a chair, a creek sounding with his weight as he thought about the endless possibilities of why the old warrior had been there. Thorin frowned and leant against the wall, putting his hand to his forehead, feeling weary. His eyes snapping to Gloin's face when he heard the warrior stir. As soon as he opened his eyes Oin was asking him questions, and Gloin put a hand to his head.

"Ow." he grunted, and looked to the door when Fili ran in, and smiled at seeing him awake.

"What happened?" he asked, and Gloin rubbed his head.

"Mph." he groaned, Oin continuing cleaning the wound on his shoulder. "Thorin?" The warrior asked.

"Aye. Nori and Fili are here too." Gloin nodded and sat up, but Oin put his hands on his shoulders.

"I don't think so." He muttered, and Gloin rolled his eyes in irritation at the fact that he felt so useless. He accepted some water that Balin handed him and took a sip, before spitting it out and his eyes darted to Thorin's.

"Where is Kili?!" he demanded, glancing around the room for the raven haired prince, and when he couldn't see him he looked worriedly back to Thorin.

"We don't know." Thorin admitted, worry once again stirring in his gut. "Gloin, what happened?"

"Uh..." the warrior started, before ringing his hands in concern.

"Gloin, speak please! What happened at the training grounds?" Fili asked desperately. Gloin sighed as if bracing himself for something unpleasant. Thorin stared at his friend, eyes demanding an answer but when he received one, his whole world shattered into a million pieces around him.

"It was Yaznug. He took Kili."

* * *

Fili felt his heart drop from his chest. He had heard about Yaznug - the evil orc, as evil as the famous Azog the Defiler, that had killed Thorin's little brother. Thorin had told Fili and Kili about Yaznug. He was a completely unholy beast, and Fili had a deep hatred for him the moment Thorin had said he killed Frerin. Fili knew he would never be able to live without his little brother, and he felt endless pity for his uncle, having to go through such sorrowful times. He started breathing uncontrollably, thoughts flowing through his brain of the types of scenarios that could come out of this situation; _they could be keeping Kili prisoner, they could be torturing him, they might have already k..._ NO! Fili thought to himself. Kili was not dead. He could not be.

His tearful eyes peered up at Thorin, who was staring at his friend that lay on the cot as if not looking away would make Mahal take back everything Gloin just informed them of, and turn it into something wondrous. Although Thorin knew that this was orcs; nothing wonderous came with that race.

"Wh...what do you mean, Gloin?" Fili asked. Gloin was starting to drift off again.

"No! Gloin, stay awake." Thorin shook his shoulders and Oin tried to interfere, but Thorin ignored the old healer. "Tell us where they took him!"

"Thorin..." Oin started.

"No! Gloin please stay awake." Thorin pleaded.

"Thorin, he could die if you do not let me treat him." Oin said softly, and Thorin's body parts turned numb and he found himself stepping back.

"W..uncle what...why?" Thorin didn't answer and Fili started to feel agitated. "Thorin, why would he take Kili?" The exiled king scratched his forehead and looked as though he was about to faint any second. "Thorin, answer me!"

"Fili! Your constant question asking isn't going to help in this situation, so just stand and be quiet for a minute!" Thorin bellowed, and Fili took a step back, a mixture of fear, anger, sadness and pure hurt all seeping into his features. Thorin slapped his hand with his forehead as the realization of what he had just said threw itself back at him, and his expression immediately softened. If this was the hardest on anyone, it was his eldest nephew. He took a step towards Fili, who in turn took another step back.

"Fili...I'm sorry, I did..."

"You did mean to, or you wouldn't have said it." Fili shrugged, showing no emotion now. "I'm going to see if Dwalin and Bofur had found anything, please don't follow me." Fili told him, slowly pulling down the handle and he stepped out of the room, and he felt a sudden flare of anger fuel through his veins and he slammed the door shut with all of his might, before leaning against the wall and slumping down to sit on his bottom, wrapping his arms around his legs, pulling them closer to his body as the only means of comfort right this very moment, and sobbed.

Thorin felt his entire world crumble around him in less than an hour; his friend lying gravely injured on a bed - maybe dying, his youngest nephew missing, taken captive by one of the two orcs that Thorin hated most in the world, and now his eldest nephew slammed the door in his face, having stared at him with a look of utter hurt before he seemed to drain of his emotions. His eyes drifted upwards and locked with Dwalin's, who looked at him sadly.

"Give him some time, Thorin. He's worried about Kili." Dwalin said. Thorin shook his head wearily.

"Dwalin...if _anything_ happens to that boy..."

"Nothing will, Thorin. We will find him." Dwalin spoke, trying his hardest to sound confident, no matter how little he felt it.

"Yaznug is involved." Thorin stated. "Nothing comes easy."

"We can't change the past, Thorin." Dwalin declared, before a small smile broke onto his lips. "But we can change the course of the future."

* * *

**Short, but the next chapter we see what Kili is up to! Poor Fili :( Imagine being him in this situation, so clueless yet you know something bad is happening to your sibling! Thoughts?**


	5. I Just Can't Help Myself

Kili had no idea what was going on...if he could just get his eyes open. He could feel some form of bark digging into his back, ripping through his tunic and slicing his flesh. It felt sore already, and he didn't think he had been gone from his bed _that_ long.

He tried to lean forward but realised he was bound by ropes that held him back in the uncomfortable position. He felt weary, his stubborn eyelids refusing to open up, though he could still feel light rays in his vision, so he knew he was outside in the daylight. _Why in mahal's name am I in this position?_ He finally managed to crack open his eyes and what he saw made him remember everything and thoughts rushed to his brain like a sudden tornado.

_Did Gloin die? Who is the monster? How do I get out of this?_

"Ah, I see my prisoner is awake." The voice that Kili heard was painfully familiar, but then again he had heard it less than five hours ago - or so he thought. The creature edged closer to him threateningly, waiting patiently for his capture to speak. Though he didn't. "I thought you weren't a mute. I only came to say hello, my Kili."

Kili silently snorted. "Ok." He groaned, trying to push himself up from his awkward slumped position. "Please never call me that again."

"Aww, you don't like that name? There's plenty of other things I can call you, any suggestions?" Yaznug taunted, and Kili decided sarcasm would be the best response to his question that wasn't even supposed to be answered.

"Well, from ages three to seven my family used to call me raven bear, but...all good things must come to an end." Kili explained, and snickered when Yaznug raised a fist, but for some reason he didn't actually expect it to make contact with his face, let alone be as hard as one little slap could possibly be, and the shock of the pain surprised him. He flinched, causing a sly smile to break out onto the orc's face.

"Did that hurt, my Kili? I do apologize. You speak when I want you to speak? Clear?" _My Kili._ Kili cringed at hearing those words, especially when they spilled from the lips of a vile monster. His response was a spit in the orcs face, who drew back and angrily wiped the spit off with his arm. _Did this stupid dwarf have any clue what he was messing with?!_ I'll have to teach him, Yaznug thought to himself. _He will learn fast whilst he's under_ my _roof_.

"I don't think you are aware, you are in an orc camp! What do you think these creatures are?" Yaznug asked, tilting his filthy head to one side in interest.

Kili was silent for a moment as he observed the camp behind the creatures shoulder. They looked like torturing people was something they would do for entertainment, and honestly he was absolutely terrified. He had only seen glimpses of orcs in his life and that was when he was way too young to be in battle, and now he was trapped in a dull camp with them where they were roughly ripping bright pink raw meat from one giant bone with their repulsive umber teeth, blood spilling from the poor deceased animals remains and into their mouths. "Uh...ninja turtles?" That earned another punch, and Kili knew he needed to stop, or he would have ten broken cheek bones by the end of one day.

"Would you like to meet the end of my other fist?" The orc spat.

Kili looked up. "No." he said bluntly. _Another punch_.

"I wasn't asking!" Yaznug bellowed, and the other orcs started to gaze in their direction from where they were seated on broken logs around some form of mangled fire. Boy did Kili miss his dagger. He had fumbled around in his tunic for it, and realized that either one of the orcs had stolen it or it had slipped from his clutches on the way, but either option made him curse.

"Really? No way." Kili asked sarcastically. _Kili, stop!_ His brothers voice played in his head, but the phrases just escaped his lips like word vomit. He generally couldn't help himself. The creature was surprised at Kili's daring attitude, and walked over to his orcs, muttering something. Kili watched them wearily, and his thoughts drifted to Gloin, his brother and uncle. If those creatures had killed Gloin, Kili would never forgive himself, no matter how much anybody told him repeatedly that it wasn't his fault. He had woken up yesterday, his biggest worry being the fact that he would die of borden in another of Balin's dragging tutoring sessions, yet today here he was, tied to a jagged tree in the middle of a camp full of the creatures in Middle-Earth with the worst reputation. He longed to be sat in Balin's study room at this moment, breathing in the old people smell that he was so used to. He had seen his uncle and Dwalin come back from hunting trips, pale and bloody, and one time the healers thought that his uncle was going to die. Kili had the same rare blood type and was forced to give a dangerous amount of it away so that they could operate, and he knew that if he hadn't his uncle would have died. The thought of that hectic night made him shudder. He knew that their hunting trips were for more than just food, no matter how much they denied it. They would have hushed conversations, out of ear shot from Kili and his brother, and then be out of the door in the next second, heading out on another hunt. Kili knew for a fact that his uncle thought he was pretty stupid sometimes, reckless and naive, and he wanted nothing more than to convince his uncle that he was wrong.

"Drink." Kili looked up as he was snapped out of his thoughts, and stared at a wooden bowl of water being offered to him by an extremely large orc, but not Yaznug so Kili was happy.

"I'm not thirsty."

"Your asking for death, young one, and I don't see how a little bit of water can hurt you. Drink." he ordered again.

"But I can't move my hands." Kili said innocently. The orc growled, going about un-bounding the rope before dragging the dwarf by the wrist over to the fire. To Kili's shock, the orc grabbed his hair and forcefully pushed his head into the bowl. Kili gagged for breath, not knowing how long he had been under, but all he knew is that his head protested big time when he was yanked out, and he could already feel a knot forming in the back of his head. The orc threw his back against the tree, before pressing the bowl in his hands, ignoring the fact that the dwarf was still panting. It had felt like he had been underwater for hours to Kili, and a few seconds for the orc.

"Garluk." Yaznug called. "Come." He locked eyes with the dwarf. "Drink." he ordered, and stood with his hands on his hips, watching in amusement as the dwarf picked up the bowl, and dipped his tongue into the liquid, rubbing it on the roof of his mouth to check it was drinkable, before hastily finishing off the rest and then throwing the bowl to the side. His hands remained unbound, in fact he noticed that his whole body remained unbound. Yaznug had his back turned now, and he didn't see anyone looking, so he silently stood up and turned around, taking only one step before he crashed into a body.

"I don't think so." Another creature told him, grabbing his body and dragging him back to the same tree, and Kili's head hit the bark hard and it pounded, causing an immediate headache. His arms were re-bound with thick rope and he snarled at the orc who strolled away in amusement.

* * *

Fili breathed in the soft mist, trying to clear his head as he half walked, half ran to the training grounds. He couldn't believe his uncle - nothing could describe how mad he felt. Anger and worry bubbled within him, and he tried to still his emotions as he made his way to the location. Dwarves shot him confused glances when he passed them, and he couldn't help but glare at every single one, and didn't feel the slightest bit guilty about it. This was his brother, and they were _trying_ to stand in his way.

He spotted Bofur and Balin a ways off, aimlessly wandering around the ground. "Hey!" Fili called and both elder dwarves looked up and smiled at the prince.

"Master Fili, what brings you here?" Balin asked as the blonde heir came into view. When he was closer up, both dwarves could tell that he had been crying and exchanged concerned glances. Fili noticed this, and quickly wiped his eyes and relaxed his shoulders, forcing a smile that would almost look real if the usual spark that bared his features wasn't missing.

"I came to see if you've found anything." He replied. "Have you?"

"We found some tracks. They lead into the woods but they cut off at the end of a mud patch. They lead north east though, and unless they cut through the tight trees we assume that they continued that way." Bofur explained. Fili smiled at that news.

"Great, lets go." Fili started to march forward but Balin reached out and gripped his arm.

"Lad, we should wait for your uncle." Bofur stated.

"Why? He doesn't care." Fili spat.

"Lad..." Balin started.

"If you don't want to come with me fine, but I will not go back home. Thorin can come if he wants to, but he needs to come now because I am leaving and there is nothing that you can do to stop me." He had sheathed a sword that he had stolen from Oin before he came here, with so much hope that they had found something, and he was glad that he did.

"Thorin does care." Balin protested. "Yaznug has been the source of much of his pain in the past, and I know for a fact that all he wants to do is find Kili, but first he needs to get more information out of Gloin." Balin defended his friend, knowing that everything he had just said couldn't be more true.

"You found the tracks! Let's go, are you coming or not?" Fili spat. Guilt was there - he could see it, for he knew that his uncle cared, but his body felt numb to all emotions except for worry and anger.

"Fili, I really think we should go back. We can leave at first light!" Bofur exclaimed, trying to sound reassuring.

"No." Fili concluded, as he marched into the woods. Balin and Bofur shared an exasperated look.

"He won't come back." Bofur hissed.

"Follow him. I'll go and get Thorin." Balin ordered in a low voice, and Bofur nodded in agreement as he chased after the young prince.

"Fili, slow down! You don't even have a pack!"

"I have weapons and water. That's all I need." Fili replied stiffly.

"What about food?"

"It's called hunting, Bofur."

"Fili!" Bofur grabbed the blonde heir by the shoulders and spun him around. "I am here to help you! But to do so we need to think logically. If the tracks end towards the end of the path, then we don't know which direction they went! We need food, our ability to hunt is crucial and we will be able to do so because I have an axe and daggers, but _don't_ you think we could use a _little_ more back up?" He asked in exasperation. Fili's hand fell to his side and he looked down sadly.

"I'm sorry." He mumbled.

"It's okay!" Bofur exclaimed cheerily. "I understand! I get the protectiveness that you are feeling - when my cousin got an axe to the head, boy did I panic." Bofur shook his head at the blurry memories of that fateful night, whilst Fili looked at him in pity. "So I am willing to help you. _Help_ you." Fili smiled gratefully at the forcefulness in the toy maker's voice.

"Thank you." He said sincerely. Bofur knew Thorin would catch up with them in no time once he knew that Fili was gone, so he let himself stay calm and would help Fili to the end of the mud tracks, and see what to do from there. He lead Fili on a walk that lasted around ten minutes to where the tracks ended, as the ground evolved into something harder and there was no more mud. "I highly doubt that they followed the path." Fili studied the ground in wonder. He walked, head not looking up although he was careful not to hit any trees on his little tracking session. _It's about what you can hear, and feel, not just what you see._ Thorin's words echoed in his mind, and he couldn't believe that they had been spoken less than two hours ago. He wasn't exactly sure why, but his gut was pulling him a certain direction. "I think we should go this way."

Bofur walked over and studied the ground, frowning when he didn't see anything. "Why?"

"I just...I don't know I just feel like they went this way." Fili tried to sound confident but he was doubting his own instincts.

"We can try that, lad." Bofur sounded unconfident too. As they walked, Fili began to realize more and more that they needed his uncle, or at least some other companions to help him track. He also knew that he couldn't turn back now - Kili needed him, and he vowed to be there in his brothers times of need. Bofur followed behind, telling Fili many hilarious tales to try and lighten the dim mood, which Fili forced himself to listen to. Bofur seemed to have run out for the minute though, and now they just walked in a companionable silence, which Fili decided to break after a while.

"Bofur this is stupid." Fili grabbed at his hair, turning around. "I don't know what I'm doing - I can barely track, I left Thorin when I shouldn't have, Kili will probably die because of me..."

"Fili!" Bofur exclaimed, interrupting him mid sentence. "Stop right there!" He knew that Thorin would come. _Hurry up,_ Bofur silently pleaded.

"But..." Fili stopped dead when his foot hit something. He frowned, bending down and searching through the leaves and when he picked up his brothers dagger he gasped. Blood littered the hilt. He stared wide eyed - part of him thought _I tracked right. I'm getting closer._ Whilst the other part thought _Great. Kili has no way to defend himself._ He smiled at the victory, frowned at the blood, excitement fueled through his veins that he could be getting closer and concern took over his features that the closest thing that Kili could now probably find to a weapon was a stick.

Whilst these emotions overwhelmed him, Bofur had smiled slightly at their victorious find and weaved through some more trees, before he spotted the remains of a fire. He grinned, calling to Fili. The blonde heir rushed over, tucking his brothers dagger into his tunic, before studying the fire.

"How long has it been here?" He asked.

"Not very long. Three hours at most. But I don't think it's been that long - however this is a very early part of the forest to make camp, considering we've only been walking for about an hour so they probably weren't here for very long, for fear of being caught up already." Bofur explained his observations and Fili nodded.

"Are you ok to keep going?" The blonde heir asked.

"Of course." Bofur raised his chin confidently.

"But you don't have a water flask." Fili observed Bofur's belt, now able to grasp onto that swimming guilt when he saw no means of a water carrier attached. _That is why Thorin needs to hurry up._ Bofur smiled a fake smile and silently begged mahal to give them help soon.

"That is ok lad. Let us move out!"

* * *

**I always thought that Fili just wouldn't go back. Also I have planned the rest of the story which is packed with events! Hope you enjoyed :)**


	6. I Clap Because I Hate You

**Chapter 6! This is just sort of a filler chapter to start off all of their journeys but I like the next chapter more - some juicy things start to happen!**

* * *

"He did WHAT?!" Thorin bellowed to Balin who held his hands up apologetically.

"I tried to stop him, Thorin! He refused to listen! Bofur went with him - if we leave now we can catch up." Thorin put a hand to his head in a daze - _what was Fili thinking?!_ He tried to find comfort in the fact that Bofur was with him, but last time he checked the toymaker only had a sword - _did Fili even have anything?_

"Oin where do you keep your weapons?"

"The chest in the room next door." came the muffled response from the healer who was prodding at his brothers injuries, Gloin's hand trying to swat him away. He rushed into Oin's room next door and opened the chest. "How many swords should be in here?!" He yelled.

"Three!" Thorin cursed. There was only two - Fili had armed himself. Thorin wasn't sure whether to be glad that his nephew had some form of defence or worried that he was preparing for battle.

"There is only two." He explained, stepping next door. "I have to go and get them." Thorin muttered. He had planned on leaving at first light to look for Kili, but now he knew he needed to be quicker. "Who will be joining me?" Dwalin, Balin, Bifur and Nori all agreed to the challenge.

"Me." Gloin stated, sitting himself up.

"You are injured." Thorin protested.

"Aye, I don't think so, brother." Oin raised an eyebrow and shook hs head.

"It is my fault the little lad is in this mess, I am not lying here in bed all day when he could be being tortured right this second."

"What if the stitches re-open on the way?" Dwalin questioned doubtfully.

"Oin, looks like you'll be packing a bag too." Gloin countered gruffly.

"Aye, the chances of finding Kili ok are slim. And Fili or Bofur could get caught too - we really need a healer on the search." Balin reasoned. Thorin thought about it for a while before he finally relented and nodded.

"Ok." He muttered, grabbing his sword and hastily throwing essentials into his pack as the dwarves around him did the same. As soon as they were done Gloin stood up on shaky legs, trying to be as hard as he could as he followed them out into the bright daylight.

* * *

"And...release!" Yaznug ordered, and Gurlak grinned before doing just that with the dagger. It flew forward, brushing past Kili's ear and hit the bark behind. Kili stiffened his back and cringed at the pain in his ear, and he could feel the blood trickling down it, dripping onto his tunic. The orcs all immediately burst into applause. Kili raised and eyebrow, not particularly enjoying being the target to a bunch of orcs practising throwing knives, but he supposed that it was better than torture. Yaznug shot him a glare, and Kili smiled sarcastically and dramatically clapped his hands together.

"Yeah! We're clapping because it's over!" He yelled, and Yaznug glared at the young dwarf and knelt in front of him.

"You have a big mouth. We need to do something about it." He pulled out a knife threateningly. Kili's body immediately tensed, his back stiffening immensely but he held his chin high in defense. Yaznug chuckled darkly, scraping the tip of the knife along Kili's jawline. It was hardy deep, more of a long slit, but it was enough to draw blood. Yaznug smiled in satisfaction, and it widened when he saw that Kili was still glaring at him, but his breathing had grown much more erratic as he tried to fight the pain. Yaznug tilted his head to the side in wonder, putting the knife edge against Kili's skin once again, but this time on the side of his forehead, and he traced it lightly down to beside Kili's left eye before he viciously dug it deeper and in a fast movement ripped some of Kili's cheek flesh off as he brought it down quickly. Kili yelped in surprise, lurching forward through the thick rope at the sudden pain. Yaznug smiled; he was determined to make this dwarf crack.

"Why are you doing this?" Kili asked through clenched teeth. "Are you after somebody? My uncle? Am i just bait?"

Yaznug pondered at his answer - _yes, supposedly you are bait little one, but so much more to me._ "Yes and no."

"What does that mean?" Kili asked in exasperation.

"It means you will ask me no more questions, unless you want to meet the end of my other knife." The orc threatened and Kili rolled his eyes, trying not to cringe at the pain searing on most areas of his face. He was concerned that the deep gash on his cheek would get infected. Yaznug seemed to read his thoughts and walked over to the fire, grabbing some form of liquid and handing it to his second in command. Garluk walked back to the dwarf, flicking him a smile before grabbing the dwarf's exposed head without warning and tilting it forcefully to the side, before pouring the liquid onto the gash. Agony immediately burned. He couldn't stop the strangled scream that escaped his lips, no matter how hard he tried to bite it back. Garluk smiled in satisfaction, before exchanging the cup for a mug and handing it to the dwarf, after cutting his ropes so Kili was able to actually breathe properly and massage his wrists.

"Drink." He ordered. Kili's usually warm brown eyes darkened and he stared at the mug defiantly. Garluk growled. _I thought we've been over this._ Yaznug noticed the dwarf's hesitation and edged closer.

"Do you really think I went to all this trouble to poison you my Kili?" He asked simply, tilting his head to the side in question. He was truly filthy, and Kili knew that if he was a babe staring at that he would probably have a heart attack and die.

"I don't care why you are giving it to me - I don't want it." Kili told him defiantly.

"You haven't drunk for a whole day." Yaznug protested.

"Why do you care what I drink? You are just going to kill me the moment that you have my uncle!" Yaznug bit his tongue and Kili suddenly started questioning whether that last statement was correct. "Right?" He pressed.

"All in good time, young one, but for now I suggest you drink that. Or Garluk here can force it down your throat. The choice is yours." Kili wondered if Garluk was his torturer because Yaznug was too much of a coward to do it himself, but he stopped himself from spitting out some remark about this theory, for he really didn't need more beatings. However, he was beginning to like the company of Yaznug more than the company of the terrifying Garluk who gave him the shivers every time he approached the black haired archer. His goosebumps gained goosebumps.

He decided that drinking a little water wouldn't hurt, and he trusted that it wasn't poisoned for they _did_ need him alive if he _really was_ just bait. He reached out shaky hands and took the mug from the orc's firm grip, and took a sip, before greedily finishing the rest and his throat and mouth became less dry. He never thought it could feel so good to drink the boring liquid.

"There. Was that so hard?" Garluk teased and without warning, Kili hurled the mug and it smashed into the creatures face, knocking him back and Kili bolted for the trees. However, like he had assumed, he failed. He didn't know why he even bothered to try, but all he wanted was to see his family again, and he would try his hardest to make that wish come true, no matter what it took.

"Silly me. I forgot you were an archer." Yaznug muttered once Kili was back against the tree in the thick binds. Then came the beating. _Anyone but Barluk._ The pain that the one orc had caused him in the last mahal knows how many days was off the charts, and he wished that any other orc in the camp would have the honour of destroying his body (aside Yaznug, he thought).

* * *

Fili and Bofur continued their journey side by side. The further they walked, the more awkward it seemed to get. Not because it was just the two, but because Bofur wasn't entirely sure how to deal with Fili's constantly growing anxiety and agitation. The toymaker was looking back every ten seconds, expecting Thorin to run in with a large group of back up, but he was starting to think that that wasn't going to happen. He needed a drink - they had only been able to share Fili's not very large water flask and had found a clean enough stream to top it up once.

Fili noticed this too - he really should have planned this better. His doubt was growing - anyone would be able to tell by his constant fidgeting, but he tried to stay confident so he strolled with his chin held high, knowing that there was no way he was turning back now. His brother needed him for mahals sake!

"Bofur?"

"Aye lad?"

"Do you think we're close?" They had been walking in the same direction, for in the previous hour they had found the worst thing that Fili could imagine - a bloody rope on the trunk of a tree. He assumed that they were bounding their prisoner to a tree, which made Fili more mad than words could imagine. Kili _hated_ to stay still. It was part of the reason that he never wore braids in his hair - he simply didn't have the patience for it. If they were sat in a still silence Kili would always be moving, bouncing his foot up and down or tapping his nails on a table, something that drove everyone in the room crazy, but they wouldn't have it any other way.

"I think we're going in the right direction." Bofur hummed. "What do you feel, lad?"

"I feel like we're getting close. I just doubt myself." The blonde heir admitted, dragging a nervous hand through his tangled hair.

"Don't. You know, may people have done so. Your uncle, for example. You won't know but when your uncle came to the Blue Mountains he had such difficulty adjusting to his new life. He was stubborn as a mule, and couldn't bear the thought of getting a job. But he did lad - he ditched the idea of blacksmithing and decided to try his hand at being a lumberjack - not a bad way to make a livin' - all you need to know is how to swing an axe." Fili furrowed his brow, wondering where this story was going. He was still mad his uncle, but a small part of him felt a twinge of guilt that he didn't even have the guts to wait for the guy. He hissed, gulping as he forced himself to listen to what Bofur was saying. "He had never expected that he would have to work for a livin'. He was desperate to kill orcs, that thirst grew and grew every day. We all knew it, but one day he couldn't help himself. He got a bit outnumbered for the stubbornness of Durins folk drove him to charge head first - without back up - into a group of orcs. He got bound, and it was Dis that ended up tracking him, though we all tried to stop her for she was pregnant with you. She found him - we all thought she was going the wrong way, but it turns out she was right, and as soon as she had her hands on Thorin she gave him a right slap on the 'ead. Anyways, don't always trust your sight. Or me. Trust yourself." Bofur finished his story, and Fili smiled at the toymaker.

"Thanks Bofur."

"Don't mention it lad. So, where are we goin'?"

"We are continuing this direction." Fili declared confidently, and Bofur nodded and followed along in silence. Fili's mind drifted to his mother after that tale - he had known her and missed her so much every day. She had died giving birth to his little brother - he couldn't help but blame the babe but as soon as the chubby little hand curled around his own that feeling washed over him completely, and he vowed to protect the dwarfling, and loved him from that day forward with everything in him. However, his mother would always hold a special position in his heart and there had always been a tiny piece missing. But he fought on - he always lived up to the vow that he made with his mother to protect her youngest son.

That's why he was out in the wilderness with no idea what he was doing.

That's why he was still walking.

That's why he would continue to walk until his legs didn't contain the strength to walk any further.

Even if it resulted in the death of him, he would try.

* * *

**Sorry if the ending is pretty lame hehe :) I didn't know what else to write! Thoughts?**


	7. Attempts

**Chapter 7! I realized that this story will have fifteen chapters, just in case you're wondering, because I've planned out the rest! There will be a sequel, because where I end it definitely won't be the end! Well, it will be the end of this one, but not...I'm gonna shut up! Enjoy :)**

* * *

"Sing me a song." Yaznug demanded. Kili had absolutely no idea how long he had been in the presence of orcs, and he still had no idea where they were going or why he was even there. Every time he questioned, Yaznug got his stupid torturer to beat Kili - using whips, knives, boiling water or one time, when Kili told Yaznug that calling him Satan was an insult to Satan, Garluk had grabbed a rod and the next thing he knew, burning coal had been dropped onto his exposed stomach. The scream he had let out was heart-shattering. His tunic had been burned days ago, and the wounds on his stomach were annoyingly visible and he cringed every time he laid eyes on them. His body ached immensely, and he was patiently waiting for the pain to go, but it never did. Part of the reason was his fault - he couldn't help the insults that spilled from his lips like word vomit, earning him more torture so his wounds never had enough time to close up. Then again, he thought to himself, if he let himself be dragged around like a doll it would be like he was giving up.

He had had over eight attempts of escape - sometimes he wondered why he bothered, for he knew they weren't going to work, but all he wanted to do was curl up by the fire in his favourite chair, covered in blankets back in his cosy living room at his own house... _indoors_. No matter how much the archer yearned for this luxury, he knew it couldn't happen yet. So he rarely let his mind drift to that, for that was a reminder of his terrible situation. He knew who he wanted to be with, but he was beginning to think that he would never see those people again.

"Why?"

"For entertainment."

"I'm not singing you a song." The brunette glared defiantly, laughing silently at the thought.

"Fine." The orc said simply, but when Kili saw Garluk pick up the familiar rod he cringed and stiffened his back.

"Okay! Okay, fine." Yaznug nodded in acceptance and grinned, waiting impatiently for the sound of singing to meet his crooked ears.

_Like a dull dreadful rumor_

_He's got no sense of humor_

_He turns a light so darn dim_

_It's best to just avoid him_

_He always make so sick_

_Cuz he's an annoying dic..._

Yaznug clamped a hand over the young dwarf's mouth before he could say anymore. "One day you will learn." He hissed, slapping Kili across his worn face. The archer looked up dazed. "If I ask you for something, you abide to my wishes."

"I did." Kili replied simply.

"Oh my Kili, you just don't know when to quit, do you?"

"I told you not to call me that!" Kili roared in annoyance.

"You don't have a say in what I call you!" Yaznug fired back. "I'm going hunting. Eleven of our friends here will be visiting a certain somebody a ways off, and the remainder eight will come hunting with me. Let me introduce you to someone - he needs the training on how to keep a prisoner captive, and looking at you, it doesn't seem as though you will be going anywhere." Kili couldn't help but silently agree as he brought his gaze off the ground and stared in surprise at the creature that he was being introduced to.

The heir observed him - he looked like an orc but smaller, and some of his features seemed almost dwarf like. He was an extremely strange looking creature, and had some form of matted, stringy hair, but he was on the orcs side and that was enough to make Kili despise him. He also wore a grey cape, with no other clothing which generally looked rather funny. It confused Kili though - _since when did orcs wear clothes?_

"Any funny business and you will be dead." Yaznug threatened and Kili glanced at Garluk and gulped as the orc readied himself for travel, tucking his deadly knife that had been used on the dwarf many a time into a weird looking sheath as he glared at Kili from a distance. "You know what to do, Gazal. If you let him escape there will be no forgiveness available."

Kili scoffed. Orcs - _forgiveness?!_

_Forgiveness..._

Forgiveness.

* * *

Thorin grunted, the pack on his back straining his spine and he fought to keep his weight forward. He had been rushing so much that he had basically throwing anything into the bag that may be of use. Now he deeply regretted that - he didn't need splints for mahals sake! He didn't... _but what if he did? What if one of his nephews got seriously injured? What if he couldn't live up to his promise to Dis? What if..._

"Thorin?" All eyes on the group were staring at him in absolute concern, and he shook his head and smiled brazenly.

"Sorry." He apologized. "Any tracks?"

"No. But we need to go further this way - I suppose Bofur will have shown Fili where we found Kili's tracks and that was this way." Balin explained.

"Lead on." Thorin ordered as he followed along at the very back.

"Are you alright?" Dwalin asked. He almost sounded sympathetic, for Dwalin at least.

"Not really." Thorin murmured.

"Why?" Dwalin asked.

"Why do you think, Dwalin?" Thorin snapped. "Fili loses it when it comes to his brother - now we're out in the freezing cold with no clue what we are searching for! Do I track Fili? Do I track Kili? Do I trust that Fili is tracking Kili? Why couldn't he have just waited!" Thorin breathed the lasts words in annoyance and realized his tone just then. "I'm sorry, friend. Forgive my tone - that was wrong of me."

"Thorin its fine. Fili and Bofur didn't leave that long ago. We can probably catch up with them if we hurry."

"Good luck with that - Gloin's here." Nori teased, and Dwalin barked a laugh as Gloin glared at the crazy-haired dwarf. Thorin didn't feel like laughing, for he could find no humor in this situation. Part of him itched in annoyance and caused him to wish for snappy words to spill from his lips for the fact that they were making light out of a dark situation, but another part of him didn't have the heart too, and he decided to listen to that part. His friends were on this journey with him - including a severely injured Gloin whom he could tell was pretending like he wasn't struggling to walk, but Thorin saw past that tough shell.

His thought trail was drifting afar. He had been numb to worry when he figured out what had happened whilst he was gone, but now, Kili was taking over his mind. It suddenly struck even harder. He knew for a fact his nephew wouldn't hold back that tongue of his - what did Kili call it? _Word vomit?_ He was always being scolded for it, for Thorin worried that one day he would use it in the face of enemies, his recklessness earning him more torture than needed. _Word vomit. Word vomit. Word vo...  
_

"Word vomit?" Balin asked. "What is that supposed to mean. Thorin came back to reality once again and stared at Balin in shock, before slapping his head and shaking his brain free of thoughts.

"Nothing. Anything?" Thorin asked, switching the subject from his overwhelmed mind to something that he was used to. Priorities.

"There are footprints. I assume that they went to the lake to top up their water."

"How long have we been walking?!" Thorin asked.

"About three hours." Dwalin muttered.

"Three hours?!" Thorin half choked.

"It's okay, Thorin." Balin muttered as everyone spaced off to begin to follow the new tracks. "What is really bothering you, friend?"

"I don't know, Balin." Thorin admitted. "What if Dis hates me?" He hated how weak he sounded, but now it felt as though he was spitting out his thoughts. _Darn the word vomit!_ He had been listening to Kili too much.

"She could never hate you. You are trying, Dis knows you are trying, you are not to blame here." Balin reassured and Thorin nodded and smiled gratefully at his friend before hunching his shoulders and putting on a new hard face which surprisingly didn't feel entirely forced. Great, determination!

"Let us move."

* * *

"Hello!" Kili looked up and furrowed his brow once again at the appearance of the figure stood before him. His ropes had been bounded triple tight and he knew that there was absolutely no means of him escaping any time soon.

"What do you want?" he asked rudely, not in the mood for any more torture.

"We are having a talk." The figure demanded. Kili sighed tiredly - the rough voice had woken him up from a deep and amazing, no pain slumber, the first decent one that he had had in weeks, and he was annoyed.

"Why?"

The figure put his hands on his hips before leaning forward and rustling them behind Kili's butt before yanking out a broken stone. Sure enough, the moment Yaznug had left with his troop Kili had used the amount of movement that his hands could do to the furthest extent possible, picking up a stone and scratching it against the tree in hopes of creating something sharp enough to cut through the bindes. His shoulders were sore from doing this though, as reaching behind him to the tree let the ropes brush painfully against his already in pain skin.

"Ajoy! I knew I smelled a weapon!"

Kili stared at him in disbelief. "Ajoy?"

"You are not allowed to be in possession of any weapons. I'm sure Yaznug won't like hearing about this."

"Why are you wearing a cape?"

"Because I am."

"Are you a magician?"

"No."

"A superhero?"

"No!" The figure growled. "I wear a cape because I like capes."

"Weirdos like capes." Kili stated simply, earning a smack to the side of his face, although he had given up caring about the constant searing pain long ago. It wasn't like it was going to end. He was extremely surprised at how soft the hit was though.

"See this?" The orc asked, holding up a bloody mace.

"No." Kili answered sarcastically. _Damn it!_ He thought to himself. _What is wrong with me?! Fricken word vomit._

"This bloody mace?" Kili observed his eyes. They weren't even or normal - the shape were different, and they were definitely not the same shade in colour. One of them had a large brown blotch in the corner which made Kili cringe in disgust - it looked like a fly was swimming in his eye!

"Did something poop in your eyeball?" He asked, and the figure slapped him again angrily.

"I'm in charge here. I command you to pay attention and listen to me!" Kili covered his ears with his hands defiantly, earning another punch. "Yaznug says the prisoner isn't allowed any weapons. No stones allowed!" He waved Kili's poor attempt at a weapon in front of the dwarf's face who just raised an amused eyebrow.

"Are caped weirdos allowed?" He asked innocently.

"If I catch you with any more weapons you will die slowly dwarf. Now I will dispose of this stone."

"It's not a stone."

"Yes it is"

"It's a stick."

"Lie."

"It's a piece of bark."

"Another lie!"

"So...you have no friends?" Kili asked. "Because they left you here."

"Irrelevant!" Kili snickered at the embarrassed cheeks that flushed on the creatures face. _Mahal he is fun to tease. The hits I receive are what I would've offered as a three year old. Win-win._ "Your the one with no friends, they haven't come for you." it snarled, and Kili's heart immediately pined for his brother, his uncle, his _family._ He barely felt his face drop in what probably looked like defeat. The creature smiled wickedly at the distress that he knew he was causing the young dwarf deep inside.

"Kill me, I dare you." Kili challenged, changing the subject, a plan forming in his worn out mind and the creature tensed.

"I'm not allowed to."

"You're too cowardly to, you mean."

"I happen to be an extremely amazing fighter!" He protested.

"So you've killed a barlog?" Kili asked, a grin creeping onto his face.

"Yes!" Gazal exclaimed, and Kili tilted his head to the side. "Well...no..."

Kili smiled at his victory, before shaking his head and looking down, acting like a disappointed mother who had just caught their child raiding the cookie jar. "Gotta love failures..." He teased.

"I am an amazing fighter!" Gazal repeated loudly.

"Don't tell me, tell the barlog." Kili spat.

"Why don't you tell my mace!"

"Fine. I will. Untie me and we'll fight." _His injuries were protesting him big time. He was tired. He was being reckless. He..._ What did he want to do? _He wanted to escape. He wanted to lie by the fire and soak in its comforting warmth. He wanted his brother._

"I'm not allowed to." The creature repeated.

"Weak." Kili spat.

"I am not!"

"Weak."

"Fine!" Gazal carved under the pressure and relented. "You will regret this." He hissed. He looked like a dwarfling but in orc standards, and it was rather pathetic to the brunette, making him smile slightly in amusement once again. He pulled out his knife, slicing through the ropes and Kili massaged his wrists as he practically crawled along the ground. Gazal laughed evilly as he swung the mace wildly in Kili's direction who rolled out of the way. Another hit and he was rolling around in circles, the awkwardness overwhelming. His battered body wanted to lie down and sleep, but he knew he needed to try and do this. He looked around for some form of weapon in the space of time it took the pathetic creature to retrieve his whip, but saw nothing that he could put to good use. The archer dodged another attack and staggered up, using a tree for support. He hurled himself at Gazal who brought the mace right over his head and knocked him to the ground. Gazal yelped in surprise, biting out with desperate teeth under Kili's firm yet tired grip on the creatures shoulders as Kili punched his face, before reaching a hand to grasp the bloody, cut rope and bounding Gazal's squirming hands above his head. This was all through desperate wriggles, hits, bite attempts but the creature was even weaker than Kili originally thought.

"Wow", Kili hummed to himself as he staggered into the trees, Gazal desperately howling after him. "Sometimes my word vomit is helpful. It makes people...crack."

* * *

Fili and Bofur startled at the sound of a crack in the bushes. The noise grew more and more as the amount of anxious breaths that they sucked in increased, before a dagger was lobbed in Fili's direction. He barely had time to dodge the attack as he yanked out his sword, locking eyes with the toymaker who swallowed his worry and tried to position himself so he could protect the prince, to some extent. _Oh Thorin. Why can't it be you?_

"Bofur?" Fili asked, voice breaking.

"Be ca..." he never got to finish his sentence as both staggered back at the sight of goblins pouring from the bushes. Fili began to panic as he ducked a blow aimed at his chest before kicking it in the groin, as he looked worriedly at Bofur who was trying to reach him. He grabbed the arm of a goblin, twisting it until he heard a satisfying crack before it flooped to the floor and he moved onto his next opponent.

In the round, there was only about twenty five goblins, but Fili couldn't help but think that they were rather stupid. Yes, they succeeded in what he supposed they were after but as he lay unconscious on the ground he couldn't help but absentmindedly think that it was two against twenty five and it was like the goblins lined up for a turn at fighting the dwarf. Fili wasn't giving them tips or anything, but he wondered how thick the goblins minds were that they couldn't even bring themselves to have more than one enemy attack a single dwarf.

Then came his head injury. Now he realized in his unconscious dreams, as he replayed the wails of his own quivering voice when he was crying out for his brother on the battlefield full of dead orcs, that there was a pounding pain in his head. It was a very odd feeling - not one that he had ever felt before. It was as though he was dreaming these horrific dreams whilst having a slight clue in his head that he could feel the hard ground beneath him, along with a slight breeze that brushed against his face, causing his hair to tickle his cheeks. It was like he was forcing himself to remember the cry of pain that echoed through the trees, a rather familiar one, and his distracted gaze in the direction of the sound that earned him a hammer to the head, and the cry of sorrow that rang as his body made contact with the ground, seemingly limp and lifeless.

He gasped, sitting up startled as he choked on his own spit. Looking around, dead bodies littered the ground. His vision was completely bleary and his eyelids drooped, longing for the sleep that they deserved. He scanned the area, unaware of what he was looking for, or what he was doing, or why...Bofur. The blonde heir put a hand to his throbbing head as the world once again tipped sideways and he hit the ground with a sot thud, not even sure if his eyes had closed before his brain succumbed to sleep, shutting out all other memories that dared linger and disrupt his world of no pain whatsoever.

* * *

"Where is he?!" Yaznug spat as he slapped Gazal on the face for what seemed like the millionth time that day.

"F...fa...I'm sorry!" The creature squealed as he squirmed, hands still bound above his head so he had no means to defend his exposed face.

"Sorry?! Sorry?! Barluk!" Yaznug called angrily and the orc calmly walked over, brushing the tip of his knife along Gazal's arm before the light tracing turned into an unexpected force and the creature was screaming in pain at the newly formed gash on his brown skin. "Find hi]m! Separate! We need him!" Yaznug ordered as the orcs immediately complied their leader who looked like he could rip of the head of Smaug the terrible singlehandedly at any second.

 _Don't worry, my Kili._ He thought to himself as he calmed his rapid breaths and looked angrily at the pathetic calamity who lay wheezing on the floor. _I will find you._

_And I won't let anyone touch you again._

* * *

**So Kili basically can't help what he says - they just spill from his lips. Part of it is because he is reckless and part of it is because its an automatic thought in his brain that he wants to return home, and his torturers are the only people preventing that from happening. Also Fili obviously got hurt and now his shut off brain was feeling two sides - one of Kili who is his biggest priority at the moment, and one of what has just happened. Anyway, there we go! I'm not sure about it - thoughts?**


	8. Give Me A Break

**Chapter 8! Ok, so I kind of forgot to mention that this is roughly two or three years before the quest, so I guess in human years Kili is about 15 ish and Fili about 17. I'm not great with dwarves and their ages, but know that if I ever write their age in this story it's in human years. Also I know they're five years apart in dwarf years but it's not the same in human, so if you calculate it Fili was 19 when he died and Kili was 18 :( Also did I mention that if I write in bold it means the orcs are talking in black speech? Anyways, enjoy!**

* * *

"Thorin!" Balin called to his determined friend, who paced ahead of the group for his body had formed a new rush of energy that seemed to everyone else travelling with him like each stride he took was ten times longer than it should be, and the exiled king was completely oblivious to the fact that everyone behind him was panting. "Everyone is shattered! We think it may be time to take a quick break, my friend."

"How can you say that Balin?" Thorin snapped, swivelling around on his heels to face the tutor. "You want to wait rather than catch up with the orcs holding my youngest nephew captive? Does Kili mean _nothing_ to you?"

Balin flinched slightly, the words hitting him like a bombshell. "How could you even suggest that? I helped raised that lad my entire life like one of my own! I'm trying to think logically here - if we catch up all being dead on our feet we are not going to be of very much help! It is because I care that I say this, my friend." Balin's voice turned to almost a whisper and Thorin immediately felt guilty.

"I'm sorry Balin. You are correct. We shall make camp!" he called and the dwarves around him murmured their agreements as they began to do that appointed task in relief. Thorin sat on a broken log as he stared sadly at the item in his hand. He had found a bloody rope at a tree base on the floor an hour earlier and growled at the thought of Kili being tied to a tree. He had the exact same thought trail as Fili when the blonde heir had found it a day earlier - Kili _hating_ to stay still. He could picture his youngest nephew moving his arm and angering the orcs, earning himself torture just because the orcs wouldn't let him burn any energy.

He could also picture his youngest nephew on the machine with his brother at the casino, constantly moving to burn off the energy that was contained in his tiny body. For as long as Thorin could remember, Fili and Kili had _loved_ to dance.

_"It's a new machine! Fiwi!" Fili let his little brother drag him through the casino as he laughed, Thorin and Dwalin walking behind them, exchanging amused glances. Fili put some coins in the machine and the two brothers laughed as they jumped gidilly on the arrows as flashing lights danced with the rhythm of the jazzy music._

Thorin smiled at the memory, picturing a transition of a two and a four year old little dwarfling to two of eight and ten years of age, still dancing though Thorin was able to watch their routine which they had figured out.

_"Side, left!" Fili shouted over to music as the brothers criss crossed each other, laughing as the arrows made a fun noise each time they bounced their foot on one. Thorin watched happily as he sipped an ale, Balin and Dwalin observing them with interest._

_"How do they do it?"_

_"I don't know." Thorin replied the old tutor's question. "They have always shared a type of brainwave - it allows them to know where not to move as to not get in the way of the other."_

_"Amazing. Magic." Dwalin commented with a slight chuckle at Thorin's face. "Reminds me of two dwarves, Thorin." The fact that Dwalin was talking about Frerin made his heart pine slightly but it was true - they had shared some form of magic brainwaves._

As he observed the bloody rope in his hands, tying it up to tuck in his pocket - though he didn't know why - he remembered a day that was only two weeks ago, except now it seemed like forever ago.

_"You know, this is great, I really needed this." Kili declared as he moved his feet on the arrows in practised rhythm to the music._

_"Yeah, you've been really distant lately." Fili replied as he slid across. "Is there anything you need to tell me?"_

_"No." Kili replied as he jumped. It was a bit of a lie for nightmares had haunted his mind for weeks now but he tried to shake off the nagging feeling that something bad was going to happen. Thorin's voice behind them made them both jump and they swung off of the machine._

_"Are you two forgetting something?"_

_"Uncle!" Kili greeted in surprise. "We're gonna get the cake in a minute."  
_

_"The chocolate one?" He double checked._

_"Yes uncle. Don't worry - Bofur will love it." Fili added and Thorin nodded in agreement._

_"Hopefully. What are you two doing?"  
_

_"Trying to get Kili to tell me what's on his mind."_

_"Nothing Fee! I was just thinking - our life is so un-bad and un-full of events that it feels wrong."  
_

_"Well it's the Blue Mountains, nothing bad ever happens here." Fili answered, so...so sure of his statement._

Thorin's heart sunk at the memory. _Oh Fili._ He had never even branched the topic of possible bad events in their quiet, poor and innocent home.

"Thorin!" Dwalin called, sounding rather muffled as he was a fair ways off around a tree. Thorin frowned, standing up as worry filled his heart at the urgency weaved into the warrior's tone.

When he laid eyes on the trail of dead goblin bodies leading up to a familiar golden mane attached to unmoving lump on the ground, he regretted the fairytale life that he had led his nephews to believe was permanent. Well, he wouldn't call it fairytale exactly for there was never a happily ever after - there was the constant worry about monies, orc attacks from afar and his nephews were having to be highly trained in weaponry, but he never mentioned that anything like this would possibly ever happen. He hadn't even mentioned his future plans, reclaiming his homeland and the dangerous journey that would be taken if that were to happen.

Thorin dropped to his knees by his nephews side and immediately started checking him over for the injury keeping on the floor. He noticed a large red gash along his head and he looked at Oin, expression asking 'what do we do?' Oin didn't answer his glance, instead he pulled out a bag and grabbed some supplies as he immediately started to clean it as thoroughly as possible, which was rather well considering the circumstances.

"It will be okay." Balin put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"I really don't need your untrue console at the moment, Balin." Thorin snapped.

"I'm serious. We can wait for the little lad to wake up, he can explain everything and that's one less nephew to worry about." Balin pressed and Thorin sighed, although he nodded. He had snapped at the tutor too many times today.

"You're right." he muttered. "But it's one more toymaker to worry about."

"Bofur will be fine. He's been with orcs before. It's better an experienced person rather than the opposite." Dwalin spoke up and Thorin nodded in agreement, looking back sadly at his nephew.

"But Kili has suffered long enough in the hands of Yaznug. We need to catch up soon." He stated. "Oin, what is the situation with Fili?"

"He is warm and his breathing is normal. That gash," The partially deaf healer pointed to said injury. "Stopped bleeding hours ago. There is a rather large not in his skull - I can determine no other injuries at the moment."

Thorin nodded, pulling a cloth from the bag as he tugged Fili's water flask off of where it was attached to his buckle and poured enough water on the cloth to dampen it. He gently wiped away the dried blood from Fili's forehead. As he did this he decided that he wanted nothing more than to wrap his hands in a death grip around every living orcs neck, watching them begging desperately for mercy and then kindly refuse to give it to them. He was just about to speak up, suggesting that a couple of them move ahead to find both Bofur and Kili when the young heir began to stir.

Oin dampened another cloth and laid it across Fili's head whilst Thorin gently called his name, reassuring him that he was in no danger. "Unnf." Fili groaned as he cracked his eyes open.

"Fili? Are you with me lad?" Thorin asked in concern as Fili squeezed his eyes tightly shut, before re-opening them a few moments later and Thorin immediately noticed that they looked a lot clearer than they had previously been.

"Uncle?" he asked weakly.

"Aye, it's me. Dwalin, Oin, Balin, Gloin, Nori and Bifur are here too." Fili flicked his gaze to the figures behind his uncle whom all smiled warmly at him in relief. "Can you sit up?" Thorin asked, and Fili nodded, allowing Thorin and Oin to help him rest his back against a tree as he looked around in a daze. He accepted the cool cloth on his forehead once again as he closed his eyes in relaxation, but when he remembered Thorin was startled and pulled away the cloth as he tried to figure out why his nephew was in such a sudden distress.

"Bofur? Where is Bofur?!" _Oh...right._

Dwalin decided to speak up as he knelt beside the prince, being gentler than anyone really thought possible of the hardened warrior. "We don't know."

Fili's rapid breaths increased exceedingly as he stared at Dwalin in shock. "Mahal." He whispered. "This is all my fault."

"No it is not. Fili, listen to me..." Thorin began.

"No! If I hadn't been so stubborn he wouldn't be out here in the first place!"

"If it is anybody's fault it is mine! I should have left to find your brother as soon as we could."

"You haven't found him?!" Fili exclaimed. "No! No no no, _no!_ " He tried to stand up, before his knees buckled underneath him and he collapsed, falling like a rag doll into Thorin's ready arms as his body racked with sobs. Thorin shared a sad glance with Balin over the blonde heirs shaking shoulder, whose face was nuzzled into his uncle's chest as he allowed himself to release all emotion, even if it meant soaking his uncle's tunic.

"Fili, don't panic." Thorin soothed as his nephew sucked in a hiss at a good attempt to still his confuzzled emotions.

"We need to leave." Fili decided as he pulled away from his uncle, wiping his eyes and sniffing. "Now."

"You're injured." Thorin protested.

"So is Gloin. You let him come."

"Yeah but lad, I'm fine." The warrior lied, massaging his throbbing arm.

"So am I! What else are you going to have me do, stay here until you find my brother and bring him back where I am vulnerable and able to be kidnapped by orcs myself?" He asked, knowing his uncle wouldn't let that happen, but he didn't expect the response he got - he expected his uncle to relent.

"No, wait until you are chorent enough to stand on your own and then we can move."

"How can you say that, uncle?" Fili snapped. "You want to wait rather than catch up with the orcs holding your youngest nephew and probably your good friend captive? Does Bofur mean nothing to you? Does _Kili_ mean nothing to you?" Thorin flinched, the words hitting him hard. They were the exact words that he had said to Balin earlier.

It took all of the exiled king's willpower not to bark back a stern retort, but Balin's hand on his shoulder reminded him that Fili was confused, injured and he felt helpless, and it really wouldn't be helping either Kili _or_ Bofur to argue. "Fili, at least gain your strength by eating something quickly." Thorin offered and after a head debate Fili sighed and relented, accepting the nourishment that he felt he didn't deserve. _Kili probably wasn't getting this treatment right now._ A call that they should head out brought him back to his senses and he un-tensed his shoulders as he put on a stern face. Kili called it their 'prince faces.' He did feel rather powerful when he put it on.

He fell into a quick paced steps with his companions as they chased after, well...they didn't exactly know.

* * *

Kili continued to drag his worn body as far away from the camp as possible, though he didn't know the way home, he didn't know were he was going and he didn't know where to hide. He had no food, no water and no help, which wasn't great considering he was stopping, panting for breath with his hands on his sore thighs. He knew that Gazal would awaken and tell Yaznug, who would be using his practised nose to follow his scent straight away. If he was honest with himself, his gut felt a twinge of guilt for the...he didn't even know what it was. It was definitely not an orc, but it definitely was not any other being either, or any other being that he knew of, anyway. He smiled to himself at the thought that his word vomit had finally giving him a chance of escape, and had too much fun teasing the lad in the process.

He massaged his shoulder, pushing his back against a tree and slumping to sit on the floor. He focused his spot on one point of a tree in front of him to calm his dizziness and he didn't stop. He squinted his eyes, swallowing his worry and he didn't dare let his eyes move. At that moment in time he _longed_ for Thorin and Fili to burst through the bushes, hold him close and never leave him again. But, as he gazed at the tree, he had a feeling that that wasn't going to happen. Were they coming? Were they gathering supplies?

Were they even _looking_ for him?

"Well, well." Kili stared in shock at the familiar coloured legs that stood in front of him. Those of an enemy. He slowly looked up, visibly paling at the face that he saw. He hadn't ever seen this orc before, but his pale skin and his hook for a hand was a rather large giveaway. His heart practically fell out of his body in realization that none other than Azog the Defiler was standing crossed armed in front of him, which meant that the pale orc was still tormenting Middle-Earth.

The orc roughly grabbed his hands, yanking him up, protesting his throbbing injuries in the process. He was carelessly dragged along the ground to mahal knows where and he barely had the energy to make a sound, no matter how much he wanted to just scream. He could vaguely feel his hands tied forcibly above his head, his arms pressing tightly on his ears.

Another orc behind him was holding a whip, and he was only able to stare on wearily as it was brought down to land harshly onto his back. He had definitely not expected it to feel so numbing.

"Who are you?" Azog hissed. Kili's eyes widened and he turned his head back around, swallowing and grimacing when another crack sounded as his exposed back got once again hit with spikes. "Answer me when I talk to you, dog!"

"You're the dog." Kili hissed.

"Were you spying on us, or hunting us down? Who are you working for?"

"Nobody!" Kili exclaimed truthfully.

"Liar." Azog spat, observing the dwarf with interest. He suddenly calmed down a huge amount and grinned threateningly, his lip curling back to reveal an array of revolting, umber teeth. "You remind me of someone." He stated. "Someone I once knew. Someone whose head I want hanging on a stick for me to play with." Kili knew exactly who he was talking about, and the thought of that made him gag in his mouth and his body unconsciously shuddered. Azog noticed his discomfort and his evil smile widened. "So you know of whom I speak?"

"No." Kili lied.

"How are you related to Oakenshield?" Azog hissed. " **Whip him again.",** he ordered in black speech and Kili lurched forward, willing for the branch to snap or the rope to break so that he could relax for a just minute. He _just_ needed a moment.

"I'm not related to Oakenshield! Why would I be?"

"These pants are of good quality." Azog observed. "And you look like him. Are you his son?"

Kili snorted. "Thorin doesn't have son."

"A nephew, then?" Azog asked. Kili just glared at him defiantly, causing Azog to growl, grabbing Kili's neck in a death grip. The dwarf started to gag as the grip tightened immensely, his throat screaming, _begging_ him for oxygen. "You will tell me what I want to know, or you will die. That's the deal." Kili spat in his face, and Azog growled as he stepped back. _This dwarf was daring._ Something clicked in his brain at that moment and his smile re-plastered itself on his filthy face whilst his eyes scanned the cuts that littered the dwarf's body and marked his face; he hadn't realized how battered the thing was until this moment - his mind was too set on finding out the business of the being. "You're him." He mused.

Kili raised an eyebrow, deciding to play dumb, but in fairness he generally had no clue what Azog was talking about. "I'm who?"

"Yaznug's little pet." Azog replied.

"Who's Yaznug?" Kili asked, trying not to let his voice quiver but it didn't exactly work.

"Well, see little one, he wants Thorin to earn my praise, but I see that he didn't do a very good job at keeping the bait." Azog sneered bitterly as he spoke, before chuckling lowly. "But I want Thorin, and that rat needs to know that nobody steals what I want. I need to get Thorin - that point needs to be proven." Kili raised his eyebrows - _so he was bait._ _Why did Yaznug want his uncle?_ Looking at the claw that Azog wore for a hand Kili knew why _Azog_ wanted his uncle, but Kili thought it was a lot of effort for _Yaznug_ to get Thorin just for some praise off of Azog.

The defiler traced his finger along Kili's face, before pulling out a knife and cutting a strip off of the remainder of Kili's boot and hung it on a branch. "Better make sure he knows where we are going. What do you think?" Azog asked.

"Brilliant." Kili nodded sarcastically, and Azog tilted his head to the side, but to Kili's surprise (and relief) he didn't lash out. Instead he smiled.

"I can see what he sees in you."

"Who?" Kili asked exasperated.

"Yaznug."

"I don't know who Yaznug is!" Another whip crack sounded and his back felt more weight, whilst Azog used his knife to mark a deep gash on to Kili's other cheek, who screamed weakly. _Can't I just sleep to shut out the pain?!_

"I suggest you stop lying to me, dwarf." Azog announced. "Or once I get Oakenshield I will give you back to Yaznug and you won't ever be free again."

Kili choked, forgetting his lie for a moment. "What?!"

"He admits it." Azog hissed to his fellow orcs who began to murmur in a language who Kili didn't understand. Kili bowed his head in shame, matted hair hung over half of his sweat soaked face. He silently beated himself for his moment of weakness. Azog turned to his companions. " **I know where we should lead Oakenshield. Hunkel, cut him down."** Azog ordered, and Kili wished that he could understand that language, no matter how much he cringed when he heard it spill from any set of lips.

"Where are we going?" Kili asked, once his bounds were cut and his broken body crumbled to the ground.

"Away from here." The orc, Kili assumed his name was Hunkel for Azog kept calling him that, spat. Kili hated the torturing orcs more that the orcs who were cowardly enough to stand by and watch, or taunt him with words. He had built up a hard barrier to insults over the years.

"How did you even know that Yaznug had me? You were never there." Kili pressed for more information, knowing that if he was going to die soon then he may as well know the full extent of the situation. To his surprise, Azog answered without getting angered by having to answer to a dwarf. He almost seemed glad to explain it.

"Gazal was with me, until Yaznug sent one of his orcs to collect the lad because he didn't want his son hanging around me. They explained it all." Kili's head snapped up and he stared in shock at the orc.

"His son?!"

"Be quiet." Azog hissed.

"Where are we going?" Kili repeated impatiently, deciding to change the subject for he didn't feel that now would be the best time to press even more.

"Shut up, dwarf." Hunkel spat, looking to his leader in question and Azog nodded in approval, so as they walked he dug his sharp nails into Kili's skin who weakly screamed, trying to pull away but to no avail as he was dragged into some danky looking caves.

* * *

**There we are! Don't worry too much about Bofur - he is a wee bit more sensible than Kili hehe! I kinda forgot to write from his POV in this chapter but we'll find out what he is up to in the next one! Thoughts?**


	9. Nearly Drowned

**Chapter 9! This chapter is _crazy_ and you're going to read it and be like huh?! There is a reason I did this though, I just can't say what at the moment... :) Enjoy!**

* * *

Kili was hauled through tunnel after tunnel, with absolutely no idea where he was going, the only clue being the swarm of nauseating goblins that travelled around him, causing the feeling of claustrophobia. He needed room to breathe but the rope that was tied forcefully around his waist, which Azog had bound around him in case he would need to be tied up again and they needed a rope handy, stopped all chances of that and he longed to unbound it. The whole time that he was dragged he rubbed his hands together, creating an abdominal amount of friction but he knew that he was loosening the tight bounds around his wrists a lot, so he continued to do it as discreetly as possible.

Eventually he was brought onto a stone floor which was the edge of a terrifyingly large drop. There was another stone floor across from their side which was about four meters away from the cliff edge. A wooden wheel spun on the wall next to him, water dripping from it in huge clumps and onto the un-spottable ground far below them. He glanced up, able to see an extremely large platform with a lake of water inside it, the high wood on the edges acting as the only thing that kept it enclosed in there. It was above the drop, and the wooden beams that held it up were on the very edge of both cliffs. He began to wonder how many levels the place that he was in actually had.

An orc threw him carelessly onto the ground, spitting a remark that told him not to move, though how pathetic he looked, lying like a destroyed animal trying to hold onto the threaders that kept him from unconsciousness kind of made it assume that he wouldn't be going anywhere any time soon. Azog walked over to him, putting his foot on Kili's stomach. "I'm going to speak to somebody that leads this place. No funny business or you will be dead." He threatened with a menacing hiss for good measure before stalking away, leaving Kili to gaze wearily after him as he propped himself up onto his elbows, pondering his next move.

He began to assess his injuries whilst goblins chattered around him, doing mahal knows what but they were constantly moving things and coming in and out of the cave. He wondered why the orcs just left him there, because as he observed his injuries he realized that it was mainly his upper body with the pain, not his legs. They had been covered up thankfully by his trousers which he was grateful for. His torture had consisted of Garluk trying to drown him in some form of disgusting liquid, whipping his upper body and all of the orcs having a turn at scratching, gashing and beating the hell out of his poor face which was now littered with marks, and it was rather difficult to source an uninjured area.

He smiled to himself as he creatures around him barely paid attention to him. He drew his gaze to the rope bounding his hands together and used an annoying amount of force which the rope eventually succumbed to for it had been weakened on his journey in here and it snapped in two without too much energy use. He grinned at his victory. He shook his hands off, briefly massaging his wrists before loosening the rope around his waist and then fiddling with the large knot to get it off of him completely and when he succeeded he threw his head back in relief as he savoured the feeling of being able to breathe properly.

"What are yer doing?" An orc hissed as it walked by him, wooden planks in its arms.

"Nothing." Kili replied.

"No funny business."

Kili snorted. "Where do you think I'm gonna go?" Kili hissed, though an idea had formed in his mind and he was trying not to grin at the thought. The orc snarled before stalking away.

Kili casually peered around, seeing the creatures busying themselves and so he took hold of the rope as he fought through the searing pain with tears in his eyes before lobbing it, biting back a scream of victory as it wrapped around a wooden plank that hung down from the floor above the drop that held all of the water.

"What are yer doing now, runt?" The orc called before he saw what Kili was doing and ran towards him, dropping the wooden planks out of his arms which caused a large crash to sound. Kili hastily got up and sprinted about two meters to the cliff edge before letting himself fall as he clung on the rope and swung across collapsing to the ground when he made it to the other side.

He momentarily released a sigh of relief as he shook his hands vigorously to shake them back into position from where they had clicked out of place. The archer glanced across the cliff at the goblins and orcs who were glaring at him and he sneered at them. The orc that had tried to grab him yanked out an axe and started to smack a wooden plank which was one of the beams to hold up the large water lake. He succeeded in breaking it, and giant clumps of water spat out immediately from the hole that its departure caused. His teasing face fell when he realized what they were trying - he would be dead if they did this and they would stay relatively safe for they were on the correct side for this plan.

His legs were the most okay part of his body, which he gladly used this to his advantage and swiftly stood up as he legged it, for he could think of nothing else to do. The orcs carried on smashing at the beams and the water flowed through the cracks and overflowed the edges - eventually the model carved under the pressure and it completely collapsed in a large heap, unable to hold itself in anymore and water immediately rushed in his direction.

This was the moment that everybody has where his life completely flashed before his eyes. _He didn't want to die. He didn't want to die._ He repeated this over and over in his head as he ran away though he assumed that it was to no avail. He looked ahead in a panic, spotting a large stone wall that ended the...room? He didn't know what it was but it contained a tiny doorway that he bolted for, the chance at escape making his legs hurry themselves as his upper body protested at the unreal amount of pain all of this sudden movement was causing him. The last few days he had spent seated against a tree - he would normally be relieved to burn the energy but right now he wasn't so sure.

The water that was chasing him sounded so much louder the closer it got, and he patiently awaited for the moment that it would devour him but he carried on pushing in hopes of avoiding what he was waiting for.

The brunette smiled at the realization that he was almost at the doorway, and relief washed through him at the fact that a little further and he could collapse with relief. Well, not exactly, for he knew the water would go through the gap and chase him still, but to a lesser extent.

Kili heard a crash behind him and barely had time to turn around before water hit him and he got dragged into the gap forcefully. He hit the hard floor and coughed a few times, before looking up and making his way further in. He arrived at a dead end, the wall built of many hard and rather big stones all balanced tightly on top of each other. Behind him something huge made contact with the ground and the sound was deafening. He cringed, looking back and frowned when he could see the exit that he had just come through blocked. He began to panic as he pushed against the huge stone blocking the exit as water seeped through the cracks around it. He realized that when he had been running for his life the crash behind him had been the water knocking one of the large stone structures off balance and it had fallen to block his exit.

Tears brimmed in his eyes - he had gone through everything he had been through in the past week or so to die _drowning._ The eerie noise of water dripping to make contact with the ground was all that his ears could hear, and a pool of water started to rise and rise and soon it was up to his hips. He let out a wail, bringing a hand to his head in a daze. The water sloshed as he moved, his eyes darting around for any means of escape, but soon he just gave up. There was no way out. He slopped through the water to the wall made of a pile of stones and let his mind drift to happier times.

_"Fee, wait!" Kili giggled as he ran through the grass after the rapid dwarf who had agreed to let his little brother chase him._

_"Slow coach!" Fili teased before stopping to let Kili catch up to him. The brunette jumped on his older brothers stable back whilst laughing and Fili smiled._

_"I'm not fast Fee, like you are. I think that you have secret superpowers." Fili chuckled at the thought._

_"I wish Kee." He exclaimed. "You will get faster. Proper dwarves always get faster as they grow." Fili noticed Kili's sudden sadness as the dwarfling looked to the floor. Fili immediately crouched and tipped Kili's chin up with his finger. "What's wrong?"_

_"When I watched you train the other day, a bunch of boys said that I'm not a proper dwarf. They say I will never be worthy of one because I am too little."_

_Fili growled threateningly._ _"Who said that Kili?"_

_The young dwarf shrugged._ _"I don't know all of their names." Fili sighed._

_"You are little because you are just a babe, but growing up you will get taller." He made a silent vow to have a rant at any dwarves that meddled with Kili's feelings malignantly._

_"Fili? Fili? Kili?" A voice of no messing around yelled. Fili looked up and saw his uncle searching around worriedly for them._

_"Over here, uncle!" Fili called, and Thorin ran over, panic washing over him._

_"I told you not to go f...what is the matter?" His voice transformed from angry to gentle at seeing the other staring at the ground in sadness._

_"Some dwarves said that he is too small to be a dwarf." Fili spat angrily, and Thorin's sword clattered to the ground._

_"Kili, can you look at me?" He asked softly, and the brunette peered up with curious brown eyes through scraggy, russet bangs that Thorin decided definitely needed a brush. "Being a dwarf isn't about your size - it's about your courage, your heart and how proud you are. We are a strong race - it has absolutely nothing to do with size. We never give up - I have seen tiny dwarves in battle whom have killed all of their opponents, even when severely outnumbered. The point is, being a dwarf is having the strength to never give up."_

Now this conversation seemed extremely ironic to Kili, for he was genuinely taller than his brother and nearly met the height of his uncle, but back as a dwarfling he remembered feeling worryingly tiny compared to the world. _We never give up._ The water now met his shoulders, but those four words played over and over in his head. All he wanted was to see his family again, and if he wanted to ever see those people he would have to do just that.

He made his way forward with a new surge of confidence, trying to spot something that could work. His resourceful skills had never been very good, but he would try. He didn't have anything. He didn't even have the rope anymore, but thinking about it, what good would that do? He pushed against the rock walls in a vain attempt but fate was once again not on his side because nothing budged. He cursed, silently saying goodbye to his uncle and brother, and everyone he knew, finding peace in the fact that he had tried.

He took a deep breath, ducking his head under the water as it finally met his full height and he opened his eyes, squinting at the darkness. Then something clicked. He swam forward to the wall of rocks, feeling the relatively small one that he knew he had spotted through the bleariness. The pain in his upper body was absolutely killing. _We never give up._ He swallowed, pushing against the rock. He pushed harder and harder and squealed under the water as it fell out, the wall beginning to collapse.

There was a hole now which he took advantage off and pushed his arm through it, adding to the cuts but he couldn't care less at this moment. He wriggled it around, using his other hand to push at the rocks, whilst trying to not think about the fact that he was in desperate need of oxygen. Eventually, his efforts were worth something and the rocks buckled over with a loud crash, and he followed them into some more water. Rocks landed on top of him so he ducked far under the water and swam forward, bringing his head up and screaming with relief.

* * *

Fili marched ahead of the group, trying to ignore the pounding headache that seemed unable to leave it's location fixed in his head. He was angry - angry at himself for getting injured, angry at the obnoxious orcs, angry at mahal and angry...angry that fate had lead to the events of his brother ending up in trouble instead of himself. He was sick of the people behind him telling him to slow down - it was like they were the uninjured ones yet they were walking slowly whilst he himself was rushing ahead because he was actually trying to accomplish the task that they were all out here for. The only one he made an exception for was Gloin, but it annoyed the blonde heir that he had even come if he was injured. It was like he was _trying_ to slow them down. It was like he was _after_ Kili getting hurt. It was like he _planned..._

 _Fili!_ A voice rang inside Fili's head - the voice of his brother which he had longed to hear since the day he disappeared. His steps faltered and he put a hand to his still throbbing head. _Will you take a moment to breathe and listen to yourself! Master Gloin is a lifelong friend of ours who helped get you to the stage of where you are now in weaponry so go easy on him! He is here to help get me back, you know that. You can do it if you remember everything that you learned about tracking and use it to find me! I know you can._

"I don't think I can find you, Kee." Fili whispered to himself.

 _You have never failed me before, brother, and I know you won't now._ The voice faded due to gruff laughter that sounded from behind him, refueling his veins with anger. Two valued dwarves were in the hands of malevolent orcs and they were _laughing?!_

He angrily spun around on his heels and stalked back to where his uncle stood, before abruptly coming to a halt when he saw the worried look on Thorin's face that had been chiseled into his features for the past few days and pressing his lips together to avoid spitting out something that he knew he would regret later.

"You ok?" Thorin asked, eyeing his eldest nephew skeptically. Fili had grown taller the past year, his beard fuller and if he had the correct royal robes, Thorin thought he would look like a king.

"I uh...no." Fili admitted as he lengthened his stride in the opposite direction, needing to escape the eyes of the perturbed gazes that were shot in his direction until he was out of sight in the trees. He leant against one, taking a deep breath and observing his surroundings. A black lump on the ground caught his eye and he slowly pushed his weight away from the tree and made his way towards the object before bending down and picking it up with careful hands. His breath caught in his throat when he realized what it was.

It looked suspiciously like one of the two hats that Bofur always wore. Thorin broke through the trees, opening his mouth to say something but closed it when he saw what was in Fili's hands. "Oh Fili." He murmured.

"I did this." The blonde heir muttered.

"No, you didn't! Fili, listen to me, you did _nothing_ to cause any of this! How Bofur got caught I am unaware of but anything he did was _his_ choice. Not yours!" He pressed a finger to Fili's chest and the blonde dwarf smiled slightly, dropping his head down and nodding slowly. "Besides, the orcs will have shoved this away to annoy him. It doesn't mean he's dead."

"True." Fili murmured.

"I feel as though we are edging closer. We should catch up before we lose the tracks."

Fili nodded and let his uncle's strong hand on his back guide him in the direction that they were heading, before Fili finally spoke his mind although his voice came out extremely quiet but it was audible enough for Thorin's trained ears to hear. "What about Kili?"

Thorin inhaled largely at the question. "Care to elaborate?"

"What if he is so far gone that we can't reach him? Can't get him back?"

Thorin sighed as they walked side by side, ahead of the dwarves who followed suit a fair way behind them. "Did I ever tell you about the day Kili was born?" Fili looked up in interest, shaking his head no but snapped his eyes up when he heard voices in the distance. Thorin too curled his fingers defensively around the hilt of his sword that stuck out of its sheath, the last conversation washing over his brain entirely as the dwarves behind them caught up, weapons at the ready. It was the enemy.

_He could hear the voices of orcs._

* * *

**This chapter is pretty nuts, but basically everything in the end of the goblin tunnels holding the water just collapsed in one big heep and Kili ran, got trapped and escaped! He is rather lucky hehe, but I couldn't exactly kill him then! Azog will be rather angry now... What do you think?**


	10. A Battle

**Chapter 10! This chapter contains some action with good old Fili - he deserves more credit if you ask me. Enjoy!**

* * *

Yaznug was annoyed. They had come in contact with the group of orcs that were holding some random toymaker hostage, so he decided to leave his troup with them as he carried on searching for the brunette that he was after. He found himself preferring to work solo - yes he was the leader, but more followers always slowed him down.

He didn't like company at all.

He worked _alone._

* * *

Fili looked to Thorin, who sneaked stealthily around the edge of the camp. Fili bit back a laugh at how Bofur was still able to worry about his hat in the middle of an orc camp, for the toy maker was demanding to an orc for the location of the item that appeared to be missing from the top of his head. He never saw it in the grips of Fili's hand. The blonde scanned the camp for his brother, and he wasn't sure whether to be happy that he wasn't there, or sad because that would mean he could be anywhere - anywhere to never be found.

He wanted to know. _Now_. Before he knew what he was doing his sword was drawn and he was tearing through the bushes at an alarming speed, his flaxen, golden locks bouncing up and down at the rhythm of his running, and he pointed his sword threateningly at Gurlak who was sat next to Bofur. Both beings looked up in shock, and Thorin rolled his eyes as he got ready to charge. His nephew just _couldn't_ wait.

"Where is my brother?" He hissed.

Garluk sneered, fingers crawling along the ground to find his own sword. "Who is your brother, intruder?" He spat.

"The brunette that I assume you captured, where is he?!"

"Oh!" Garluk chuckled lowly in realisation. "Dead." Fili felt his heart drop. His body numbed immensely and he felt sick to the stomach. Bofur looked up in horror, snatching his hat up when Fili dropped it and Thorin's world crumbled, but he was sure to hold his barriers - he had been tricked before, and wouldn't let it happen again. Dwalin, Balin, Nori and himself all charged into the camp in unison, Oin and Gloin glancing at each other before following suit, a bit held back by the fact that their leader had no plan. The orcs all drew their weapons as Thorin ran, sword raised and he held it threateningly against Garluk's throat in place of his nephew who had insensibly stepped back, his fingers barely curling around his weapon which hung limply in his hand.

"Liar." Thorin spat. "Where is he really?"

Garluk chuckled. "You see, another of your enemies caught the lad, and..." Thorin froze - _another of his enemies._ Only one name came to mind if it wasn't Yaznug, but it couldn't possibly be _him_ \- _he_ was dead. "Took him into goblin town. There was an issue with water and he drowned, or so we heard. I had much fun torturing him though, he will be missed. You know, I was starting to get this nagging feeling that he didn't really like me." He put a hand to his heart in hurt and laughed evilly at their expressions. Thorin breathed deeply, pulling his sword away and he looked to the ground in grief. Fili's legs buckled beneath him and he collapsed, vomiting all over the ground, much to the amusement of the other enemies. Garluk smiled, edging closer to Fili with his sword raised.

Thorin screamed to his nephew in utter panic, who looked as though he was accepting his fate but just as Garluk brought the sword down Fili rolled out of the way, grabbing his wrist in pure anger. The orc looked surprised, but it wasn't enough to break his concentration. They both readied themselves for fight as Thorin slashed at every orc that ran his direction, trying to get to his nephew as speedily as possible.

And so the battle commenced. All of the dwarves were attacking in vengeance to the young lad whom every single one of them adored, however much or little they showed it. Nori cut Bofur's binds and the dwarf flexed his wrists before smiling his thanks and accepting a sword thrown in his direction by Dwalin.

Fili bounced on the balls of his feet, sword held out defensively as he tried to swallow down the urge to retch again. Just laying his eyes on the orc made it reappear - he wanted to curl up in a ball and die, but at the same time he wanted vengeance - he wanted to make this creature suffer as his brother had suffered, but then again he wanted this creature to die straight away so it would all be over with.

The blonde readjusted his grip on the hilt of his sword, impatiently awaiting for his evil opponent to strike the first move. In a traditional kendo stance, the orc quickly slid forward and threw cuts at Fili's left arm; however, the dwarf's sword already intercepted his, allowing him to trap the orc's blade on his own hilt and execute a stab. The orc untangled their weapons and backed away to assume a neutral stance.

Fili smiled at an idea and quickly feinted an overhead stab at his head, though instead, ducking low, slashing his thigh. The orc growled in pain, crouching slightly and sliced at the dwarf's exposed hip. Garluk knew that Fili had the advantage with his clothing - yes, the orc sliced through the material but at least the dwarf had _some_ form of protection.

Fili stabbed his sword through a duck of a blow and a slide on his knees in the V under the orc's ribs before yanking it out with a grimace at the black, oozing blood. It paralyzed his diaphragm and he gasped, doubling over before falling forward unexpectedly and he knocked the unprepared dwarf's sword out of his hand and it clattered to the ground. Fili sagged with the sudden weight and tried to shove the orc away but thought of an idea.

The future king took the advantage of the orc practically lying in his arms and slapped him with his open left hand fully across the face. It rocked Garluk and the orc took a step back before steadying himself, blinking his eyes and staring at the dwarf in surprise. His headache must have been a starburst. Fili glanced at his hand, surprised himself at the ferociousness of the hit, until he realised that it was all for the face with the chocolate brown orbs, framed by a familiar mass of raven hair. Just looking at the orc made Fili gag and he tried to hide the tears that formed in his eyes.

He charged forward to deliver a final blow to finish off the orc, snapping the creature's neck like a tree branch, a satisfying crack of death sounding as the orc crumpled to the ground. Thorin smiled over the shoulder of a beheaded orc which spazzed as Thorin patiently waited for it to fall to the ground. He beamed in pride - that was the lad he had raised for sure.

* * *

Kili was on his hands and knees, crawling like a broken bird through the trees, not knowing where he was going. The lake that he had ended up in was rather spacious, and when he finally made it to the shore he was still in the forest. This annoyed him - he loved the trees, but the events of the past few days made him wish he could run around an open field and scream.

He could hear the sound of fighting far in the distance, and he knew it wouldn't be orc vs orc so he smiled at the thought of any other race. He would accept the company of cursed _elves_ if he had to at this moment. In all honesty, he only hated the elves because his uncle did and because of their betrayal, but he had never actually _met_ one so he had always avoided judging, though if his uncle asked for his opinion then elves were the worst race on the whole of Middle-Earth! He edged closer and closer to the sound, and once he made it he peered in and gasped at the battle, but more so at the people involved in the battle.

Kili spotted his brother and grinned. _Finally!_ He had waited for this moment for what seemed like days! He looked behind Fili, smiling at the fact that Garluk was dead but it fell when he saw the figure approaching behind Fili with his axe raised. _Gazal._ "Fili..." He murmured, mustering all of the energy that he had to yell. "Fili, behind you!"

Fili heard his name and widened his eyes - _he knew that voice._ When he laid eyes on his crumpled little brother who revealed himself from behind the bush he felt as though he was seeing a ghost - a ghost that spoke. He choked, forgetting what Kili had actually just said and by the time he realised it was too late when the hammer made contact with his head and he fell to the ground. He expected it, anticipated it, and in the moments after landing he let his body relax, though cringed at the look of distraught showing on his baby brother's face. Kili hated Gazal - he _hated_ him!

"Fili!" Thorin yelled, killing an orc beside him as he kicked another in the stomach, knocking it back forcefully. He looked to the other side and startled at the sight of his youngest nephew who was trying to crawl his battered body towards his brother. "Kili..." He murmured, barely blocking a blow aimed at his face. He stabbed the orc in the hip and sprinted forward, only to be held back by more enemies.

Kili felt his body picked up, not before grasping hold of a dagger on the floor by the body of a deceased orc but and stuffing it in his tunic. He tried to protest as he was dragged away, thrashing wildly with tears rolling down his cheeks as he was once again further and further away from his brother. He shot his uncle a look - a look that told him to look after Fili.

What made Thorin's heart shatter was that exact look. Kili looked utterly defeated - his facial expression was that of a broken dog that was accepting his fate, and he gestured to Fili. _Save him._ Thorin read his eyes and his shoulders tensed, needing to go after the youngest. But if he left Fili behind he could lose him just as easily, if he wasn't already dead. He needed to get to the blonde's side. He let a string of curses spill from his lips, all directed at the vile monsters surrounding him.

"Get off me!" Kili hissed through clenched teeth to Gazal. He absolutely despised this creature - he had just killed his older brother...his _protector_ in front of his eyes.

"You embarrassed me enough the last time we were together, you need some payment, little prince."

"Did you kill him?!"

"Dwarves are such strange creatures. They worry so much about one another when they should be worrying about themselves."

"Yeah because we have a heart." Kili spat, trying to wriggle out of his grip. "Gazal?" He asked weakly.

"Yes?"

"If you don't get your hands off of me in the next two seconds you won't have hands."

Gazal barked a rough laugh. "Is that a threat, little one?"

"Keep hold and we'll see." Kili grasped his fingers around the hilt of the dagger, a completely unnoticed gesture by the now cackling half breed.

"Okay." the orc laughed, which came to an abrupt halt when he felt his hand slit and he gasped, dropping the dwarf to the ground as he observed his body part which was half hanging off of his body. He cringed, yelping in shock as Kili smiled up at him in vengeance.

He made the move to attempt stance and run away when something grabbed his arm forcefully and his heart dropped out of his chest when he heard the voice. He slowly raised his head and grimaced when he saw who was grinning evilly down at him.

"I don't think so."

* * *

**Dun dun dunn! Poor Fili! And poor Kili, he never seems to catch a break! A lil bit of action for y'all! What do you think?**


	11. Scars

For once in his life, the great Thorin Oakenshield had absolutely no idea what to do. His eyes were consistently flickering from his unconscious eldest nephew to the spot where he had last seen Kili. Oin was bandaging Fili's head once again as he grimaced at the large brewing lump, pressing his practised fingers lightly against the knot to try and feel the extent of the re-injured wound. Thorin contemplated chasing after Yaznug then and there but then again he knew that if he left he could lose Fili just as easily. He barely heard Balin calling his name until the aged dwarf's hand lightly made contact with his shoulder.

The aging healer ordered Thorin to lay Fili on his side who numbly complied, brushing a golden lock from Fili's sweaty and pale face as he moved the young dwarf from his lap. Oin carried on cleaning and dressing the wound as Nori cleaned a rather nasty wound on Bofur's leg, and Balin tried to patch up the stitches that Gloin had reopened during the battle. Thorin snarled at the dead bodies surrounding him with such hatred that it was hard to believe he wasn't one of the hateful creatures. Dwalin clasped a hand on his shoulder but Thorin didn't have the energy to return any form of gesture, or even utter a word.

"Thorin, Fili is stronger that most give him credit for. He will not die now - a little bump to the head isn't enough to let him leave his uncle and brother - besides, Oin is the best healer in the Blue Mountains. Young Fili will be patched up in no time." Dwalin's words offered little comfort, for this situation had no right answer.

"I want to believe you Dwalin, but I just...I...I can't. There is no reasonable outcome to this situation - we go after Kili, Fili could die and we stay for Fili, Kili could die. I just, I can't lose them...I just, can't. Not after I failed Frerin." He hated how weak he sounded but knew that his friend would understand. Dwalin had seen his fair share of death before.

"You have failed nobody." Dwalin replied, though he knew he wouldn't get through to the exiled king that day.

"We cannot lose hope." Balin put in as his brother nodded encouragingly in agreement. "I know that Kili looked to be in bad shape but if you do not hold onto hope then Fili and Kili will have absolutely nothing left to hold onto themselves and they will be truly lost. You, my friend, must stay strong." He stared forcefully into Thorin's eyes, aged orbs filled with determination.

"Or...we could split up." Dwalin suggested, knowing the denies he would receive in the next ten seconds.

"No brother." Balin immediately said. "Splitting up is a bad idea. We must stay together. What if the enemies are regrouping with a larger army to attack us all?!"

"There may not be time! We could catch up to the orcs before dark if I take a couple of you, and fight to win back our archer!"

"What if it ends up being a couple of dwarves against about fifty enemies! We must be smart about this next move if we want to get everyone out alive."

"I know you like to think things through but Kili may not have for us to think about or next move!"

"Enough!" Thorin bellowed, causing the argument to come to an abrupt halt and the brothers to look rather guilty. "Balin is right - it pains me to leave Kili in their hands any longer but he is stuck in the middle, which means we have to be smart. If Kili is still alive it means he is being used as bait for what I assume is me, and so he should continue to be kept alive. The creature that took him was part of a group of orcs where Yaznug didn't seem to be present so I trust that he can survive until we catch up, or so we must pray. I hate to do this but we should wait until Fili wakes up." Everyone murmured their agreements at Thorin's out loud thought trail as they carried on closing wounds, seating themselves on broken logs to start the drooling wait for the young prince's awakening.

* * *

Kili had begun to seriously hate caves. He could barely see where Yaznug was forcefully dragging him but it was dark and he was sick of it. His trousers were being ripped by whatever bad items lay on the ground underneath him, as he kept hearing tears being created. It was only him and the orc and he was hanging limply in its sturdy grip with his legs on the floor as he was dragged, his arms tied with rough rope that was painfully digging into his skin.

Yaznug yanked him until he was satisfied with their location and dropped the weak dwarf onto the floor with a flop. Kili peered up and cringed at the amount of goblins in different locations around the giant room, but what made his breath catch in his throat was the sight of the creature sat on the throne at the front. His flabby chin stood out like nothing else and his body sat in one giant lump on the large seat. He grinned evilly at Kili whose eyes widened immensely.

"This is your little pathetic pet, Yaznug?" His voice was irritatingly loud and Kili was frustrated that he couldn't make the move to clamp his hands over his ears in an attempt to block out the sound that echoed through the air.

"He is working as my bait."

"This is rather amusing, if you ask me. Even Azog didn't succeed in receiving Oakenshield for the little runt completely destroyed my water room and managed to escape." Kili bit his bottom lip and tried to keep his fixed stare on the ground. "Do you have anything to say for yourself?" The king, presumably, asked Kili as he leant forward with his hands on his knees. "Speak, runt!"

Kili cringed. "Um..." He decided that he was not apologizing to this filth. "Oops?"

The large goblin leant back in his chair, looking around thoughtfully. **"Bring him up."** Yaznug sneered and dragged the brunette, throwing him into a hanging cage. The dwarf rocked, feeling rather dazed and sick as he listened to the conversation taking place in front of him. **"You are rather brave, Yaznug, Azog was annoyed at the fact that you double-crossed him."**

**"He doesn't know who he is messing with."**

The great goblin chuckled. " **Is that so? I wonder what the pale orc would have to say about that."**

**"Where is he?"**

**"He left to find the bait which you have seemingly stolen from him."** Kili scoffed in annoyance at the fact that he couldn't understand a word that was being spoken.

 **"He's not going to find it unless he comes here, which I don't think will happen."** Yaznug smiled slightly. **"I've beaten him. I left tracks - Oakenshield will be lead in here, I can hang his head on a stick, continue to play with my toy and I've won."** His voice increased in volume with each word that spilled in the horrible language from his lips.

The goblin sneered. **"Good luck with that."**

"What are you talking about?" Kili spoke up, and both beings halted their conversations with growls as they turned to look at him.

"Well little one..." The goblin king suddenly chuckled. "Your uncle is coming here as we speak, and Azog and Yaznug both seem to want your uncle's head on a stick. It's complex really because personally I think Azog deserved it more but he failed."

Yaznug grinned, lips curling back to reveal blackened teeth. "Through your uncle is how I will get power from this king. For now though..." He walked over to the cage, swinging open the door as he grabbed Kili forcefully by the arm before throwing the abused body onto the floor, after cutting the rope roughly with a dagger. "I have something that I really want to do."

Kili watched the goblin king order something to his fellow goblins in black speech and they ran off to grab something or another - what that something was, Kili didn't know. Yaznug grabbed Kili's chin who tried to look the other direction, but Yaznug tightened his grip on Kili's jaw and made their eyes lock. "Give it up." he hissed before releasing Kili roughly and standing up, walking away.

Kili tried to roll away but goblins around him prevented that from happening. He didn't think anything was going to happen until his bleary eyes met Yaznug's figure as he grabbed what looked like a rod and a pair of tongs from a goblin. He ambled over to Kili, grabbing the archer by the hair and began to once again drag him across the floor, though this time was more painful - it was like his hair was being ripped from his scalp. He opened his eyes when he was once again dropped and they met the bright flames of a fire that the goblins had just created. The goblin king looked amused and Yaznug looked worryingly excited.

The orc held the rod over the flames where the heat turned it boiling and he used the tongs to pick up some burning coal from the hearth of the fire, before calmly making his way back to his dwarf with both items in hand.

Kili began to panic.

He tried to raise his hands to protect himself but his attempts were futile. Yaznug offered a small wink along with a smile that would seem genuine if it weren't for the evil spark in his eyes. "Don't worry my Kili - this will only hurt a lot."

He grabbed Kili's exposed arm, yanking it out before dropping the burning coal to meet his skin. The rod spread it over, the burning heat from it emitting to meet his skin as the coal created immediate burns. They turned crisp as Yaznug carried on satisfying himself as he continued to press the rod into the burning coal which sunk into his skin in a long line along the archer's arm.

Kili screamed louder than he ever had.

He was vaguely aware that after what seemed like a lifetime, the coal and rod were removed, though he continued to scream. He screamed that he would die. He screamed that Yaznug would die. He screamed for his uncle. He screamed for Fili's life to be spared by Mahal. He screamed and screamed.

It finally came to a halt when he felt a vice like grip around his neck. "If you die now I won't be surprised." Yaznug hissed. "How was that, my Kili?" He sneered when Kili didn't answer and lead him over to a tall wooden structure right next to another tunnel that supposedly lead out of the room. He grabbed a rope, forcefully tying Kili to it before stalking away with a low chuckle which was completely laced with evil.

Tears streamed freely down Kili's face. He glanced at the burn on his arm - it was something he had never seen before and wanted to vomit at the look of it. It was the ugliest red that Kili had ever seen, and Yaznug had dragged it from just under his shoulder and right down the front of his wrist. The archer's body was completely numb - the shock of seeing his brother die in front of him, the shock of being inexperienced in the middle of an orc camp, and the overall the shock of receiving the pain that he had just been given had destroyed him. He never thought he would say this, but Kili actually wanted to die.

* * *

**Chapter 11! Poor Kili :( He doesn't deserve this but I guess I'm just mean hehe! What do you think? Thorin is completely torn and didn't know the extent of the story and assumed that it was all to receive him, but that's where he is a lil bit wrong ;)**


	12. Into Tunnels

Thorin was growing impatient now. He had been in the same disgusting area of the forest for at least three hours, and so much could happen in that amount of time. His body was either pacing along the dirt or seated next to his eldest nephew as he stared at Fili's face, willing for the blonde's eyes to open. Either way he would be bombarding the healer with a million questions as Oin continued to reassure the group that Fili's still unconscious condition was completely normal.

Everyone silently hoped for Oin's sake that he was correct because if not, Thorin would probably single-handedly murder the poor healer.

"Oin." he demanded for the fiftieth time. "Can't you just use something to wake him up? Like you did to Bofur last year with the smelly things?"

"I wouldn't advise that." The healer murmured.

"Why not?!" Thorin exclaimed.

"Because it needs the time to heal. If he wakes up now he would barely be able to see - I know its not helpful in this situation but these injures take their own time." He waited for Thorin to explode at him but the exiled king bit his tongue to help swallow any brewing remark. This wasn't Oin's fault - he had no reason to be so angry at the old healer. But this was his kin, and they were important.

"They can't have gotten too far. Thorin, they have probably made camp." Bofur stated.

The exiled king looked up to the toymaker. "Kili doesn't deserve this, Bofur. He is such a kind-hearted young soul, just like Dis was."

"That he is." Everyone snapped their faces to meet the blonde heir. Thorin grinned and rushed to Fili's side as Oin knelt down softly next to his body.

"Fili? Are you alright lad?" Oin asked gently as Fili groaned and sat up.

"What happened?"

Thorin sighed. "An orc came up behind you and had a..."

"I know what happened!" Fili snapped as everyone startled. "I meant what happened _whilst I was out!_ Where is Kili?" He observed their faces. "Thorin, where is my little brother?"

Now it took a lot to make Fili angry, but he was absolutely furious that they had decided to wait for him instead of chasing after Kili. After he had finished his yelling rant at the group he had to fight Oin on the fact that he was okay, and insisted he was well enough to get moving. Oin wasn't so sure, but Thorin was quick to agree.

It took a few attempts to get Fili back on his feet - he was fighting the dizziness, the throbbing pain and the bleary vision but eventually he succeeded in standing and walking. He did it all for Kili.

They started their journey, and as much as Thorin wanted to leave he was a little bit concerned about the eldest and made sure to constantly flicker his gaze to the blonde to make sure that the lad was all right. He seemed as though he was, marching determinedly ahead of the group with desperation in his expression to find his lost little brother.

Thorin had found his tracks and a strip of Kili's trouser leg hung on a tree, so they were hurriedly strolling in that direction. It wasn't a particularly long walk to find the mouth of what looked to be an extremely dark cave, but it was long enough for everyone to be gagging for water.

"Do you think they went in there?" Fili asked.

"The tracks lead here." Dwalin answered, though he looked puzzled. "But mahal knows where this cave leads."

They braced themselves as they entered, Thorin slicing his sword on the stone in an attempt to sharpen it all the more though the cringy sound like nails on a chalk board made him immediately stop. Fili looked at his uncle with a silent nod of thanks, and Thorin shook his head.

"You have nothing to thank me for."

Fili sighed. "It annoyed me so much when you decided to stay and wait for me, but it also means you care. I have much to thank you for - I'm just so stressed that I haven't actually said it."

The words melted Thorin's heart and he smiled wider than he had in days as he opened his arms and Fili stepped into them as he nuzzled his face against Thorin's broad chest whilst the exiled king soothingly stroked his nephews hair as a rare show of affection.

"I hate to interrupt this tender moment, but..." They both looked up at Bofur's voice as he lengthened out his arm in the direction of down the long stony corridor to where they could hear swords clanking together. They looked at each other before stealthily creeping through to seek out the source of the sound.

* * *

Kili looked longingly behind him at the cave tunnel. It was the way they had come in now that he thought about it and he was tied so close to the edge of the tunnel - he was beginning to think Yaznug tied him here just because the creature knew there was no possible way for Kili to escape but there was a possible way for him to yearn for his freedom when it is right next to him but he just can't have it.

Right in this moment he thought he was going to die. The rope was digging into his skin, he could feel the cuts on his face stinging with infection, he couldn't even his breaths into a normal breathing pattern and they were coming out as slow wheezes, but mainly, the pain on his arm was so agonizing even sleep probably couldn't shut it out. It had scarred over now and just looking at it reminded Kili of how much of a failure he felt - _why hadn't he escaped?_

_You're weak._

_You're family won't be looking for you._

_Death wishes would be better in this situation._

All of these phrases played over and over in his mind and he was sick of them - it was like a song stuck in your head but it was more of a catchy horror movie intro. His thought trail ended when something was nibbling at his hand and he stared down in shock at the little creature - it was bright blue, with scales on its back and it had a bright pink tongue. Kili smiled slightly - it was kind of adorable!

"Hello." he murmured, shocked at how croaky his voice sounded. The creature peered up at him with huge eyes before hopping to the side and it drew a set of extremely sharp teeth that began to gnaw at the rope bounding Kili's body to the pole. The archer was shocked and looked up wearily at Yaznug who seemed to be arguing with the goblin king. Much to his luck - though he wasn't surprised - a goblin spotted and drew the attention over to the dwarf. Yaznug immediately looked up and growled as he made his way over. Kili could only widen his eyes but to his surprise a body jumped in front of him, sword raised as he glared at Kili's enemy with a deathly stare. "Gazal?!" Kili asked in shock.

"Tazal." The half breed corrected.

Kili furrowed his brow in utter confusion. "Huh?!"

"Tazal, move." Yaznug ordered, sending a warning stare to the creature in front of him. "Why are you doing this?"

"He chopped off my annoying brothers hand." The creature replied.

"Wait, brother?" Kili asked. He was rather irritated that nobody was answering his questions.

Yaznug sighed, lunging forward but Tazal deflected the blow with a bang. Kili watched with wide eyes, barely noticing the nibbling at his hair as he was distracted by the chaotic fighting. He was utterly confused as the little lizard - like creature bounced off his shoulder before scuttling away into the shadows. Kili smiled at the cut ropes that lay on the floor. The pain in his arm had kind of numbed now so he pushed himself up as he kept his eyes on the fighting before casually slipping through the entrance to the tunnel. He was using one arm to touch his other throbbing arm as he dragged himself through the darkness, searching frantically for daylight.

* * *

Fili was horrified at the state of the figure that limped towards them. He squinted his eyes to see the body and when he realised who it was his breath caught in his throat. Before Thorin could stop him his bag fell out of his grip and dropped limply to the floor as Fili ran forward just in time to catch his baby brother who collapsed into his arms.

"Oh mahal!" Fili exclaimed as he brushed a lock of raven hair away that over-shadowed Kili's brow. "Kili?!" He asked, frantically and repeatedly. "Kili? Kili can you hear me?!"

Thorin ran over to the scene and stared in horror at his youngest nephew - or what was left of him. Fili crouched down onto the damp floor as Kili lay in his lap. He lay in an abused, broken mess. This didn't look like his nephew at all - this looked like a poor creature, barely holding onto the threads of life.

"Dwalin." Thorin ordered, tearing his eyes away from Fili and Kili. "We'll be right back." He told Fili. "Oin." The healer moved to examine the youngest as Thorin, Dwalin, Balin, Bofur and Nori ran down the tunnel and into the large room. Yaznug paused mid fight when he laid eyes on Thorin and he sneered. Tazal let go and ran into the shadows as Yaznug walked threateningly towards Thorin. "I am going to make you pay for every little bit of pain inflicted on my nephew."

Yaznug chuckled. "I guess you will be making me pay for a lot then." He mocked.

"Yaznug!" Dwalin roared as he lunged to the spot where Yaznug had just been stood which was empty once he reached it. Thorin growled and bolted after the creature down another tunnel with Dwalin hurrying behind him as Balin, Bofur and Nori had been caught fighting goblins in the other room where the goblin king was no longer present. When they caught up with the speedy orc he was removing a large boulder which was blocking his exit to the mines - it was dark behind it, showing that another day must have passed.

"Coward!" Thorin hissed.

The orc turned around, laughing quietly. "And why am I a coward?"

"You are running from a fight."

Yaznug sneered, drawing a sword. "Come at me." Thorin obeyed, swinging his sword at Yaznug's head in a vain attempt to cut the creatures head off but the orc blocked the blow with surprising ease and sliced Thorin's arm with a dagger that was in his other hand. Dwalin growled as Thorin stumbled back and swung his hammer at the creature's head. Yaznug saw the attack and panicked, lunging forward to avoid the blow but fell into Thorin and they both toppled to the floor.

Thorin's breath was knocked out of his lungs but he quickly recovered and knocked the goblin off of him and to the side. The momentum from the knock off sent Yaznug rolling into the side wall where Dwalin moved to swing his axe on Yaznug's head a second time. The orc once again made it so the axe landed on nothing as he rolled out of the way and sunk a knife deep into Dwalin's leg. The dwarf grunted and swung his axe into the orc's stomach who got knocked backwards and the sound of his head making contact with the wall sounded painful. Thorin advanced on the orc with his sword as Dwalin yanked the dagger out of his leg with a groan.

He raised his sword high and was just about to end the life of the orc then and there when a new presence leapt from nowhere and knocked the orc to the side. Yaznug grunted and locked eyes with Tazal.

"Run, Yaznug. I saved your life - choke on that." The orc obeyed as Tazal briefly held Thorin and Dwalin from chasing after him before he too ran away. Thorin and Dwalin growled and raced to the boulder until another load of goblins stopped them in their tracks and they were forced to fight once again. When they had successfully killed every enemy in this area Thorin glanced at the boulder hole - all he wanted was to hear the beg for mercy spilling from Yaznug's lips in common tongue, and Thorin couldn't describe how vanquished he felt that he hadn't gotten it.

"They will be long gone by now." Thorin's voice broke in defeat which Dwalin picked up on.

"We will send out search parties - Thorin, he will be brought to justice."

The exiled king shook his head. "That's what I thought last time." He sighed and spun around. "I have to get back to my nephews." The two fell into step back to the tunnel, shoulders sagged in defeat with their weapons hanging limply in their hands.

* * *

**Chapter 12! Two chapters in one day! Basically this story only has like three chapters left and I go away in a day or so and so I am getting this story finished so when I get back I can post the sequel! Hope you enjoyed this chapter - I hope the 'final showdown' wasn't all that disappointing, because of course it wasn't the final showdown. I don't think Thorin should kill Yaznug, just because that means Kili went through everything he did to have his family save him, which I love but Yaznug needs a death from someone who truly yearns for it!**

**Anyway, that's just my thoughts, do tell me yours. The whole Tazal and Gazal thing probably seems really irrelevant but trust me, it isn't, and who do you think Tazal is siding with? He helped Kili escape yet he saved Yaznug's life!**

**Dun dun dun! Anyway, hope you enjoyed! :)**


	13. A Miracle

When Thorin made it back to his nephews his heart shattered at the scene. Fili was crying, but he tried to make it discreet as he stroked Kili's forehead. Thorin paused a moment, sending a silent question on Kili's health to Oin. The healer shook his head sadly, dipping his head in the direction of Kili's arm. Thorin shifted his gaze and carefully moved Fili's numb hand away in hopes of seeing what the healer was referring to. When he saw what was troubling the half deaf dwarf it made the dwarf king feel sick.

It was a horrible wound that travelled all the way across the underneath of Kili's battered arm, and it looked like a burn created with something steel. The ugly red colour gave Thorin the automatic image that it would leave a nasty scar. It reminded Thorin too much of the scar on Frerin's arm - it was almost identical.

With tears welling in his eyes, he ordered for them to leave these stupid caves. Now they were sat in camp, huddled around the fire as far away from the caves as they had dared to go. Kili had yet to wake up but Oin didn't seem surprised. Bifur, Bofur, Nori and Dwalin sharpened their weapons as Balin lent a hand to Oin in cleaning Kili's wounds. Thorin paced back and forth as he tried to avoid letting his gaze drift to Kili's arm and Fili was the source of comfort for somebody who wasn't even awake, and held his brother close, afraid that if he let go Kili would disappear from his sight again.

"Will he be ok?" The question sounded so quiet to Oin's ears from the lips of a blonde dwarf who looked so small in that moment.

Oin sighed. "If he wakes up, he'll live." The healer finished dressing Kili's many injuries before standing up to give the trio some privacy.

"He'll be ok, won't he uncle?"

Thorin bit his lip and looked sadly at his nephews as he debated his answer silently in his head. "Did I ever tell you about the day Kili was born?"

Fili shook his head - he vaguely remembered Thorin asking that very question a few days back but he never actually received the story. A lot of dwarves shifted forward to listen as Thorin opened his mouth.

_Listening to his mother's agonized screaming was something that a five year old Fili decided he didn't enjoy listening to. It was all so new to his brain that still had so much to learn, and no matter how many questions he asked his mind couldn't grasp the situation, all it grasped was that his mother was in immense pain and he didn't like it. Thorin watched Fili's constant pacing, and nearly told him to quit it but realized he was doing it himself. Truth be told, he was very concerned about Dis. There was an orc attack yesterday, and she got a stab wound in the stomach, and now she was giving birth. He swallowed his worries and listened to his nephew's confused and endless list of questions._

_"Uncle! Uncle! Why is mama screaming?" Thorin rolled his eyes and smiled down at his young nephew before lifting the poor lad up. Fili was young, an only child without a father who had died in the battle, so Thorin fitted into that role quite nicely and there was nothing he wouldn't do for the young lad. He would never dare try to replace him but he had decided to be the one that Fili would go to if they needed a father figure around._

_"I've told you, Fili, mama is bringing you a baby brother or sister."_

_"Which one?"_

_"We don't know yet." The sudden, extremely tense silence caused the two to look up, ears relaxing slightly as they no longer had any screaming to bare. Oin exited the room with a solemn look on his face._

_"What is it?" Thorin demanded._

_"I am so sorry to tell you this." Oin began, before swallowing._

_"Well? Spit it out."_

_"Dis isn't doing very well. The birth made her weak and her chances of surviving are low. I'm sorry." Oin said. "It was a struggle to get the baby out, he is so_ _small Thorin."_

_Thorin forced himself to stop tears from falling. He wanted to break down and cry but he had to consider his reputation at least some of the time, so as usual, his emotions didn't overtake him as he stilled them and forced himself to listen to Oin's words. "He? I have another nephew?"_

_"Aye."_

_"Wait, what's happening to Mama?" Fili asked, voice small and laced with terror._

_"Wait here Fee, I'll be out in a minute." Thorin entered the room and walked to his sister's side._ _"Oh, Dis." he murmured._

_She looked up and smiled._ _"He's so small, brother. My little one is so small." Thorin glanced at the baby wrapped in a bundle of blankets. He looked like any baby would, except he was so much smaller._ _"Oin said he most likely won't survive." Dis felt tears brimming in her eyes._

_"Don't think like that. We will be strong for him and he will survive." Thorin promised._

_Dis nodded with a sniff. "You are right. Kili will survive."_

_"Kili? I didn't know you had named him already." Thorin grinned, looking down at the baby who was still asleep. Dis sucked in a heavy breath. They looked to the doorway and saw Fili poke his head around the door._

_"Can I come and see the baby?" he asked shyly._

_Dis smiled at her son._ _"Yes Fili. Come and see your new baby brother." Dis nodded._

_Fili ran into the room giddily. "I have a brother?!" He asked excitedly. Thorin didn't dare mention about their health standards. Fili peered over the blankets and grinned._ _"What's his name?"_

_"Kili." Dis replied proudly._

_"Kili?! That's like my name!" Fili jumped in excitement. "Hello Kili! I am your big brother Fili and we're gonna have the bestest time!" He frowned when the baby didn't respond, and Oin sighed from the corner, looking on sadly. Fili glanced around in confusion and took hold of Kili's tiny hand and squeezed, squealing when he felt a squeeze back._ _"Yay! Yay! He squeezed back!" Fili exclaimed._

_"What?" Thorin asked and looked at the baby, whose eyes flew open and he smiled at Fili. Thorin choked a sob and Oin took Fili outside..now that was a miracle. He sucked in a deep breath and turned around to his sister whose breaths had turned raspy. His face immediately fell._ _"Dis, hold on, please." He begged._

_"Thorin, promise me one thing." She said in a scratchy voice. "Take care of Fili and Kili. Protect them with your life, please? Tell Fili I love him." She asked_

_He nodded and wouldn't stop. "I will Dis." He told her and watched as the life faded from his sister's eyes, just as he had to watch his little brother do the same over twenty years ago. Silent tears fell down his cheeks, but his shoulders relaxed when he saw she had died with a smile on her face. She had seen her baby survive, and that's all Thorin could asked mahal for now. He eventually left her side and stepped outside to explain the situation to Fili, who took it all in and slowly started to cry as he realized everything._

_"Are we gonna be orphans?" He asked in a tiny, terrified voice after he had gotten over the brief shock of losing his protector._

_Thorin's heart broke at the question. "No, Fili. I am going to look after you." Thorin replied, hugging his eldest nephew, and looked up as Oin carried out a bundle of blankets. Fili just grinned and Thorin was so glad that he loved the baby, and could detect no hatred directed towards him. He handed the bundle to Thorin._

_"I assume you will want him?" Oin asked and Thorin nodded, carrying the baby in his arms. The baby's eyes opened and glanced_ _at Thorin, flashing a cheeky smile before closing his eyes once again. He knew then that his nephew and he would have a lot of fun in the future._

_Dwalin, Balin, Gloin and Bofur all ran up and looked at the bundle of blankets with wide eyes._ _"Aww." They all said in the same time, including Dwalin which made Thorin snicker._

_"He's so cute, Thorin." Balin complemented._

_"What's his name?" Gloin asked._

_"Kili." Fili shouted excitedly before Thorin could answer, and he smiled as Fili danced around the corridor. "Kili...Kili...Kili..." He sang, and the five older dwarves chuckled._

_"I like it." Bofur declared and looked back at the baby, who opened his eyes and stuck his tongue at at Bofur who laughed. "Well he's going to be a whole lot of trouble." He added and Thorin nodded._

_"Aye, that he is."_

_"Uncle Thorin." Dwalin teased, and Thorin shot a glare at his friend but a smile crept onto his face._

_"We'll go back outside, everyone is waiting there." Balin informed him, and he followed them out. Everyone adored the baby, all commenting how much trouble they knew he was going to be some day._

_Thorin took the two back to his sisters home, and put the wrapped up baby on the sofa, before sitting down and sighing. "Fili, you should go to bed." Thorin told him and Fili whined but eventually obeyed when he realized how tired he was. Thorin lead Fili into his room, and wrapped him in a cocoon of blankets._

_"Night uncle." he whispered, and Thorin felt his heart crack at his nephew's tear stained cheeks. The lad was a mess - he was excited for he had a new brother to raise, look after, protect, yet he had lost his mother on the same day. Thorin was just relieved beyond words that he didn't blame the babe for the loss of his mum._

_"Good night Fili." he replied softly, closing the door before wandering back into the living room when he heard crying, and he picked up the baby and rocked him. "Sshh." he soothed, and to his surprise the baby quietened, and chubby hands reached up to grasp hold of Thorin's silver hair clip. Thorin smiled down at the child, and looked around the room. This was his life now. Thoughts entered his mind - he generally had absolutely no idea how to raise dwarflings. If he was honest with himself he did secretly long for children of his own, and he had been gifted by Mahal with these and he wouldn't let anybody down, especially Dis. It surely can't be that hard...right? He knew what was best for Fili - he had helped Dis raise the lad up to where he was in his life now, but she had done most of the feeding, the bathing, read most of the stories. I have many friends, he thought. They can give me a hand. He grinned, and Kili cried in distress when the clip fell from his clutches, causing Thorin to chuckle and hand it back to the babe who studied the new object with wide, curious eyes that reminded Thorin so much of Frerin's._

_He sighed, knowing at this moment that he would always protect them with his life._

_"I promise, sister." He swore._

"It was your presence Fili that gave Kili the reason to fight for his little life. I will only say that he will be ok because I truly believe in my heart after that miracle that he will."

By the end of the story most of the dwarves had tears in their eyes as they watched the two Durin's interact with one another, but Fili had all the encouragement that he needed after hearing that.

Kili was going to be ok.

* * *

**Yay! I love writing little Fili! He's so adorable :) The next chapter skips a bit ahead but I will briefly explain what happened after this, but I suppose you can guess. What do you think? I wonder if it would be different in the movie if Thorin alone had raised Fili and Kili - he already seems rather protective of them but...hmm! Hope you enjoyed!**


	14. Too Nice

3 _months later._

Kili stared daggers at his frenemy through the trees, smiling to himself at the thought that Lud would open a locker and find a spider inside. He was in a tiny area of the woods near the edge that led out to a field where he and some of the boys around his age often got trained. Dwalin usually gave him private lessons but he also did this when he did dagger training. He knew Lud was there today. The dwarf did just that when he opened the locker, and he along with all of the boys around him screamed as Kili stood up, laughing. Lud growled, stomping over to him.

"You put a spider in my locker?"

"I did." Kili replied. "Now what are you gonna do about it?"

"I am going to..." Lud started before laying eyes on Kili's crutch as everyone around them watched in a tense silence. "Remember that you are dealing with so much!" Kili's face dropped as Lud forced a fake smile. The last three months had been filled with everybody treating him like he was some broken bird, including Lud who he was at first excited to see for some fun until he got handed a bag of sweets with expensive chocolates inside. It had taken everything inside of him not to throw the gift in a fire.

He wanted things back to normal - he himself knew that he would never truly be okay until he knew that Yaznug was dead, but the constant pitiful stares and the gift giving, or the head tilts and the 'how are you doing, Kili?' even from people he barely knew was really starting to get on his nerves. Lud grinned and swivelled around, walking away, leaving Kili to glare daggers at the crutch.

"I renounce crutches." He hissed to himself. "I renounce them!" He suddenly felt anger fuel through his veins and he grabbed it, using all of his strength to try and snap it. It didn't work. He growled angrily, before grasping hold of the end and wacking it against a tree with all of the energy that he had in him. "This thing is made of steel!" He exclaimed. He wasn't sure why he was doing it, it was a nagging need though. He sneered at it before picking it up and hauling it at a tree in the distance where he heard a bang, and watched three pieces of what was once a healing device clatter to the soft ground. Then he realized what he'd done and clamped a hand over his mouth, staggering back whilst he chewed on his bottom lip. "I...I'm sure no one will notice..." He muttered to himself.

"Kili!" _Fili!_ The archer waved a hand and teetered in his position as Fili sighed in relief at seeing his brother. "Why are you here?!" Fili hissed, moving to stand beside him. "You're not supposed to be out without any help!"

"Fee I'm sorry I heard like Lud's forced sweet and pitiful voice in my head, and visualized him handing me a bag of sweet treats and a part of me just yelled 'we're doin' this!" Kili explained whilst Fili raised a doubtful eyebrow. "And now that same part of me is saying we gotta sit down." Kili forced a fake smile as he spun around and sat against a tree, rubbing his leg. Fili waited patiently for his brother to continue, but he didn't, and he didn't exactly know what to say. He didn't blame Kili for coming - he normally would be mad, but he couldn't bring himself to be.

"Are you truly alright?" He settled with.

Kili sighed. "I don't know." He muttered, looking down. "It hurts to move a lot. Sometimes it feels like there is something constantly pinching my arm and it doesn't ever let go."

Fili nodded in understanding. "It will get better." He soothed and Kili nodded slightly, though there was doubt in his eyes. Kili had been in a coma until they got home which took about five days for they hurried as fast as possible, and even then he had stayed unresponsive for a week until he finally woke up. Fili couldn't begin to describe the relief he had felt. "Uncle's extremely mad." Fili declared as he spun the subject around.

"How mad?" Kili asked in fear.

"Remember when we exploded that pie in the microwave and then left it there for Thorin to find because we didn't know how to clean it up?"

Kili nodded, laughing at the memory. "Yup."

"Madder than that."

Kili looked down. "Great." He mumbled.

Fili suddenly noticed something was missing and looked around, before glancing back down at his brother. "Where is your crutch?" He demanded.

"What crutch?" Kili asked innocently.

"The one that you were supposed to get rid of five weeks from now."

"Uh...I didn't know I had a crutch."

"Kili."

"It must have walked away."

"Kili."

"Maybe it fell in a fire."

"Kili!"

"I threw it over there!" The brunette exclaimed. "And it snapped. I'm sorry, but I'm fine! Look." Kili stood up and walked around the forest, but when he made it back to his brother he felt his ankle crack and fell forward with a yelp into Fili's waiting arms.

"You were saying?" The blonde heir asked and Kili groaned in frustration as he pushed himself away, before marching in the other direction. Fili cursed and chased after him. "We need to go home, Kee."

"No! I need to figure out a way to crack Lud!"

"What do you mean?"

"Fili he's so nice to me! That's not supposed to be the case - he's supposed to bring me gifts that are poisoned or something. He's faking so everyone won't think he's a horrible person to some weakling."

"You're not a weakling." Fili denied. "Kili, let me help you!"

"No!" The archer fired back, before looking up and grinning. "Oh, here comes Lud, maybe he'll give me some fun."

"I got you something." The dwarf stated cheerily.

Kili glared daggers at the bag, making no move to take it. "Please tell me there are snakes in there."

Lud laughed. "No, silly! open it!" Kili stared into the bag at the cookies, and glared at Lud before snatching the bag and dropping it on the floor as he stalked off.

Fili bit bottom lip and picked it up. "Thanks Lud." He quickly apologized and Lud waved him off. "Maybe you should stop with the gifts though..."

"Why ever should I do that?" Lud asked innocently.

"Because he wants you to retaliate against him. Just...prank him back, be mean to him...do _something."_

"Don't you think I want to! I can't be seen being mean to a guy with mind issues! What would people think of me?"

Fili growled slightly. "He doesn't have mind issues."

"Anyone in the hands of Yaznug has mind issues. Has your uncle not told you about Frerin?" Lud hissed before storming away and Fili glared at him, before turning and running to catch up with Kili.

"Okay, I see what you mean." he mumbled.

"It's so annoying! I'll get him at the pony festival on Friday." Kili decided, before crying out as he felt his ankle crack again and he collapsed to the floor. He stared in disappointment at his leg before glancing at Fili. "Go on, say it."

"What?" Fili asked, helping his brother up.

"I told you so."

"Actually I was thinking that it's pretty cool how hard you're trying, and how well it's going considering you don't have a crutch. I'm not lying when I say you're strong, Kili."

Kili smiled up at him. "Thanks."

"Also I told you so." Fili quickly stated as Kili rolled his eyes and practically leaned all of his body weight on Fili as the blonde heir lead the way home, acting as a cruch.

* * *

"You haven't broken it." Oin stated as Thorin crossed his arms at the end of the bed, looking rather unimpressed and so Kili tried to avoid his gaze with a frown as he flexed his ankle, following Oin's orders. "But you can't be putting pressure on it. You re-tore a tendon, and the bone in that leg has not entirely healed. I wouldn't leave the house young man, unless you want to sit outside. I'll check back next week - it should heal fairly soon."

Kili shook his head frantically. "I need to go out on Friday! Its the pony festival!"

"Kili, you can see ponies any day." Thorin declared pointedly.

"It's not that!"

"Then what?"

Kili sighed, hanging his head in defeat. "Fine." He muttered.

"Thank you, Oin." Thorin stated as he opened the door, and Oin left with a wave. Thorin turned back to Kili. "See what happens?" He crossed his arms and looked at the wall behind Thorin stubbornly. "Mahal Kili, what were you thinking!"

Kili leant next to him and opened the fridge door as he fumbled around, trying not to look like he was avoiding Thorin's question. "How old is this cheese?" He asked.

"Not old. Stop avoiding the question."

"Does it melt?"

Thorin furrowed his brow in confusion. "All cheese melts, Kili." He sighed. "Care to share why in mahal's name you felt the need to add an extra injury to the bunch that you have already?"

"I'm sorry!" The dwarf exclaimed. "I'm...sorry." He waited for Thorin to speak and when he didn't, Kili tapped his working foot impatiently against the foot of the bed. "You can yell at me now."

Thorin sighed. "You know, that was extremely stupid. Be careful next time, okay?"

Kili furrowed his brow. "You're not mad?"

Thorin glanced at the scar on Kili's arm and shook his head. "Of course I am, just don't do it again." He exited the room, leaving Kili to stare after him in utter confusion.

_Why wasn't he being punished?!_

* * *

Fili sighed, throwing on his clothes as he got ready to see the newly bought in ponies. He glanced at his brother who lay on his bed with his arms crossed. "Are you sure your okay with me going?"

"Fee, I kinda wanna be alone right now." Kili murmured.

"Ok." The blonde heir nodded in understanding, before squeezing his brothers hand and then departing. Thorin entered and stared at Kili as the archer looked up in annoyance.

"Really?" He asked at Fili's departure.

"Is Fili going to the pony festival?" Thorin asked softly.

"Well I asked him to leave." Kili declared. "And then he left!"

"Was he not supposed to?" Thorin chuckled.

"No!" The brunette exclaimed. "I thought he knew me better than that."

"I can stay." Thorin offered.

"It's fine, uncle. Really. I wanna be alone."

"Okay." Thorin nodded in acceptance and turned around, leaving the doorway.

Kili stared at him."Seriously?!"

Thorin hurried back to the door. "Was I not supposed to leave?"

"Yeah you can." Kili muttered.

"Fine." His uncle agreed as he swivelled on his heels and left once again.

"Does nobody get me?!" Kili asked exasperated, leaning his head back on the pillow in a strop.

* * *

Fili bounced down the stairs and heard the door sound. He furrowed his brow and opened it, staring in surprise at Lud's minions.

"Hi!" One of them exclaimed.

"Lud asked us to drop this off for Kili. We bought him some things too. Thank you!" They exclaimed as they departed, leaving Fili to stare at the gifts, knowing full well that his brother would flip when he saw them. He blinked, placing them on the table before looking around as a plan formed in his mind. He smiled, opening the door as he made his way to the festival.

He peered around the corner, watching as Lud removed his boots to replace them with riding boots. He smiled, snatching them off the bench whilst Lud moved to collect new boots and he ran into the bathroom, dropping them into the toilet. He grimaced as he pulled them back out and placed them on the side by the sink where they were clearly visible.

Surely Lud would hate on Kili now.

* * *

Kili stared at the gifts on the table, wondering why people that usually hated him were going so over the top. He was fine! The archer formed a plan in his mind and stormed over to his uncle.

"Remember when Oin told me I couldn't leave?"

Thorin sighed and stopped what he was doing as he turned around to his youngest nephew. "Do I remember you saying 'OIN IS RUINING MY LIFE!" He waved his hands dramatically as Kili rolled his eyes. "Vaguely." He studied Kili for a moment. "And whatever you are thinking the answer is no."

Kili's smile fell and he growled."Uncle! Uncle you've gotta let me go!" He practically begged.

"Kili, do you ever listen to Oin?" Thorin asked.

"Bu..." Kili started.

"No." Thorin quickly stated. "I advise both of my nephews to listen to healers when they get severely wounded and I think it's safe to say you need to stay in the safety of our home."

"Why do you have to be such a good uncle." Kili whined as he stomped up the stairs. Thorin rolled his eyes with a slight chuckle as he licked his finger and flipped over the page to a book.

Kili frowned, peering around his bedroom which he shared with his brother. He wanted to be at the festival. He smiled mischievously, biting his tongue as he crept down the stairs. His uncle was sat at the table with his back to Kili, flicking through a book. Kili smiled, ducking behind the sofa and crawling along behind it before looking up. Thorin hadn't noticed he was there, and the door was just ahead of him. He silently squated whilst he walked, reaching out a hand to open the door knob when a voice interrupted his attempt at stealth.

"Don't even think about it." Kili looked up in annoyance - his uncle didn't even look up. Kili groaned, running away from the door as he stomped up the stairs. Five minutes later he crept back down and looked around the room. He assumed that Thorin was in the bathroom, so he smiled, running towards the door. He yanked it open to reveal his uncle who stood with his arms crossed, staring at him pointedly.

"Dah!" Kili exclaimed, slamming it in his face. He ran back up the stairs and waited. The doorbell rang and Kili grinned, seizing that opportunity to leg it quietly out of the back door. He made it outside and threw his arms up victoriously, before throwing open the tall gate to get out of the garden where Thorin stood once again.

"How many of you are there?!" The brunette asked in exasperation.

"As many as it takes." Thorin replied gruffly, as he nudged past Kili and began to tug out the weeds.

"I guess I'll go and be bored in my bedroom." Kili muttered.

"You do that." Thorin hummed as Kili rolled his eyes and walked back through the door. He flexed his ankle - he had stayed inside for five days and it had healed nicely! He knew that Oin was just taking precautions but he felt okay, so he swung open the front door and left.

* * *

Lud walked around the corner as Fili hid behind the door and watched the scene. The warrior stared in horror at his soaked boots and picked them up with a growl as his face turned angry and he stomped round, swinging open the door to Kili's locker. He yanked out the archer's bow, trapping the string in the door and he viciously ripped in half. Fili opened his mouth in shock and clamped a hand over it as Lud stormed out of the bathroom. Fili ran to the locker and picked up the broken bow, staring at it numbly. Kili rounded the corner but Fili spotted him and quickly hid it behind his back.

"What are you doing here?" The blonde hissed.

"Well, what are you doing here?" Kili asked.

"Well...I have good news and bad news. The good news is Lud hates you again!"

Kili grinned. "Seriously? That's amazing!"

"And the bad news..." He pulled the bow from behind his back. "This is how uh...much he hates you again." Kili took the bow in his hands and opened his mouth as he blinked in shock.

"Kee, I'm so sorry." Fili offered.

"It's okay! Lud _hates_ me again and you did a prank which you hate doing alone." Fili smiled. "But I should probably tell Lud he owes me one of these." Fili laughed as he led the way outside and Kili followed numbly. He _loved_ his bow. It was the one hobby that was _his,_ and his alone. He swallowed tears though.

Lud stomped over to him once they made it out onto the weapon training field where the ponies were being led in. "I am done - I am done playing nice. Do you know how hard I was trying? You just couldn't let it happen."

"Because it wasn't you. The only thing worse than you is a fake you."

"You are still the most horrible person that I know! Being kidnapped by orcs didn't change anything. I hate you!"

Kili smiled at that. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Lud hissed, and the two stared each other down for a good minute as Fili stared awkwardly. "You owe me two boots."

"You owe me a bow." Kili shot back, smiling at Lud who grinned back and they walked away from each other in satisfaction.

A cough from behind them made both brothers spin around to face their uncle. "If you _ever_ do that again I will not be happy." Thorin hissed.

Kili furrowed his brow. "So it's fine?"

Thorin sighed. "Never do it again." He turned to walk away when Kili called his name.

"Wait, uncle why aren't you punishing me?" Thorin glanced sadly at Kili's scar, a gesture that most certainly didn't go unnoticed and Kili rolled his eyes and pressed his arm against his side. "Uncle, aside from some stupid scar I am the exact same person that I was three months ago. Mahal, its like you think I can't handle a stupid punishment!"

Thorin sighed. "Is that what you think?"

"No! Be normal, be _mean!"_

"Sure." Thorin mumbled. "You're grounded for a week."

Kili shrugged. "More."

"Three weeks. No desert and I'm taking the bow."

"You've made your point." Kili muttered. "And uh, about the bow..."

His uncle scoffed as Kili told him the story and showed him the broken weapon, but Fili kept putting in that it was his fault as Kili denied that too. Fili had done it for him. Their uncle led them inside the pony arena after a begging session from Kili and one little one that lay on the floor caught their attention - it was making wheezing sounds and there was a person standing over it in concern, stroking its head gently. She didn't have a beard and had long dark hair which ran in ringlets down her back.

"What's wrong with it?" Fili asked.

"It ate some poison weed thing in the yard."

"What weed?" Thorin asked.

"Acolova." She replied. "We don't know how to cure it."

"You need to cool it down." Kili stated, as if it was the most obvious thing.

"What?" The woman asked.

"Acolova is like a horse fever, the muscles need cooling down. Just use some of the snow from outside."

"How do you know that?" She asked before shaking her head doubtfully "Look, I have to go and find an actual cure. I'll be right back."

Kili watched her leave in confusion before looking sadly back at the horse. "Come on Kee, it can't be true." Fili stated as he patted Kili's shoulder before walking away to follow his uncle.

Kili could hear the wheezing sounds penetrating from it's mouth and determination swept through his veins as he walked the other way. He began to wonder why nobody listened to him. He collected a good amount of snow in his hands before making his way back inside as he opened the stable door and began to brush the snow over the ponies fur. It was mainly on his snout for the fur on its face was sweating. He sat there for a while as he spread it out as well as possible and tried to make the magic work.

Thorin observed a horse and smiled - his was old now. It's name was storm and it was an extremely noble creature, never having let him down but it couldn't ride very far anymore.

"You should get it." Fili declared.

Thorin smiled at the creature. "Maybe when the old boy dies." he replied before turning around. "Where is your brother?"

Fili spun around and frowned when he saw that there was nobody behind him. "He'll be around here somewhere." he decided as he began to push his way through the crowd.

The woman, whose name was Elena, walked back to the ill horse and frowned when she saw it standing up. The wheezing no longer met her ears and the pony was nuzzling a figure who was stroking his head. "He...he's okay!" She exclaimed as she stepped inside. "How in mahals name did you do that?"

Fili and Thorin walked up to the stable and watched the scene with smiles. Kili raised his eyebrows. "Just a little bit of snow." He replied as it carried on nuzzling his shoulder, unintentionally jostling an injury but he couldn't bring himself to care.

"I can't thank you enough." She told the brunette sincerely. "Wow, he really likes you."

Kili smiled. "Yeah." He cooed to the pony. "Anyway, you're welcome." he swung open the stable door but Elena grabbed his arm. "Any chance you might want to...I don't know, come back here? And um, I'm Elena."

Kili smiled at her and nodded. "Sure. I'm Kili." She grinned widely at him and he returned the gesture before he followed his uncle and brother away who told him that his punishment would be starting now, but he honestly didn't care. He was happy that he had his frenemy back, no matter how guilty Fili may feel for a while.

* * *

**This chapter is kind of random but it leads up to the last one nicely and has some hints to the sequel so that's that! In reality if I was him I would be really annoyed if everyone was really nice to me and I figured he would be too - he liked comfort but there can be a limit...you know? It was based off of my friend who had cancer and she hated the way everyone was nice to her, especially her frenemy so I attempted a prank which ended disastrously haha! Thoughts?**


	15. The End

It was Christmas Eve. The Durin family household was holding up relatively well. Fili smiled as he watched Kili throw some tinsel to Thorin who hung it above their door. The house sparkled with decorations, and every year until this day Fili never realised how much he missed christmas.

"We have a few guests." Thorin announced.

"Who?" Kili asked.

"I invited over a few dwarves. We wanted to discuss something." Kili shared a confused glance with Fili for both brothers had been unaware of this information but he shrugged and nodded anyway. They helped their uncle get prepared in the kitchen with only one disaster - they made a lot of different food - so many that they forgot about the stuffing and when they pulled it out the burning smell filled the aroma and it was completely black, and hard if you dared to touch it. Every year Fili and Kili made the sausages in bacon together, for it was definitely the most fun part of the meal to make. They helped more than that this year though, and eventually when it was all laid out on their large dining table they huffed proudly.

"That's rather impressive." Fili remarked.

"I know." Thorin looked rather pleased.

"Why did we make so much? How many people are actually coming?" Kili asked.

"There are ten others joining us." Thorin replied and Fili and Kili coughed in surprise.

"Ten?!"

"Yeah." A knock sounded on the door and he nodded. "That'll be them."

Kili walked over to the door and pulled down the handle, stepping back in surprise when ten familiar faces all fell in a pile inside. "Hi..." He furrowed his brow and waited patiently for them to gather themselves and stand up.

"Ello lad." Dwalin greeted as he smacked him on the arm before entering the house.

"Very bright." Nori commented.

"Good for a christmas party." Balin agreed with a curt nod.

"Sit down." Thorin offered one of the many chairs in the room - he had had to drag out a few more wooden chairs from outside. He let Kili have the sofa chair as it was the easiest to sit on and his back still gave him trouble. Fili poured some drinks, mostly ale and handed them out as everyone cheered and sipped greedily.

"Okay." Balin clapped his hands together. "I believe we need to be getting some presents. Ori. If you would."

Ori pulled out some pieces of paper and a pen as he started to scribble down everyone's names as he teared the paper.

"What are we doing?" Thorin asked.

"Whoever's name you pull out, you have to buy a present for them."

"Okay...done." The scribe announced as he pulled the toymakers old hat off of his head and threw the pieces of paper in there and walked around the room. Bofur wore this hat as a spare one but he really needed to buy himself a new one. He held the hat out to Oin. The old healer pulled out a piece of paper.

"I got Dwalin!"

Dwalin pulled out a piece. "Wahay, I got Fili!" He announced, shooting a wink to the blonde who smiled.

"I got Ori." He stated, knowing there was only one thing that would really please the scribe.

"I got Balin." Balin smiled, stretching to take his turn.

"Dori."

"I got Gloin." Dori declared.

"I got Bifur." Gloin told everyone, and the dwarf with the axe in his head grunted in response. Nobody in the room except Bofur seemed to know what that meant. He waved a piece of paper in the air with the name Nori on it. The star-shaped haired dwarf pulled out his one and laughed.

"I know what to get Bombur. Easy."

Bombur took a turn and pulled out the exiled king, and everyone cheered as Thorin crossed his arms with a smile. He had a rough idea of what he would be receiving soon. He sat down next to his nephew who was watching the scene in amusement. He took a turn and when he unfolded his youngest nephew's name he grinned to himself, knowing exactly what to purchase.

"I got Kili." The archer smiled at his uncle and pulled out the final name, and everybody in the room drum rolled.

"That means I got..." He unfolded it. "The good old toymaker over there." Bofur punched an arm in the air with a laugh.

They spent the next half an hour or so chattering to one another about many things, though Fili and Kili still hadn't gotten to the bottom of why these specific dwarves were all here. Fili and Kili snuck off to their bedroom and Kili's mood suddenly dimmed.

"What's wrong?" Fili immediately asked.

Kili sighed. "Nothing." He mumbled. "It's just, this room needs some change." He looked sadly at a patch on the wall and Fili drifted his gaze there. When they got home the only thing Kili would do all day is stare at at that very spot.

"I know what we should do for the rest of the day." Fili declared, reading his brother's mind as Kili tilted his head in interest.

* * *

As they re-decorated, Fili looked at the old stuffed teddy bear on the floor and picked it up, brushing away the dust. His ear was torn and he had a patch on his paw. The poor animal had been re-stitched uncountable times. Kili used to drag it to training and Fili and Thorin used to try and convince him that the bear would get hurt, but Kili being as stubborn as he was, refused to listen. That particular incident was the patch on the paw. In short, the bear had rarely left Kili's side in childhood.

"Remember when we used to perform dances in front of your stuffed animals?"

Kili laughed at the thought. "Yup."

"Where did they all go?"

"Well..." Kili started as he stood up, walking over to his wardrobe as he put a hand casually on it. "You know, who would keep a bunch of stuffed animals at my age? you know, eventually you get to that age where you don't ever need a bunch of those in your life, you know what I mean? like..." Fili watched suspiciously and moved Kili's hand out of the way as he pulled open the wardrobe and startled at the amount of stuffed animals fell out from where they were stacked on top of each other. "You see, ah, aahh!" Kili watched them fall as he stepped back with a squeal mixed with a grin. "They came home!"

Fili shook his head and laughed. "Honestly."

Kili quickly stuffed them all back into the wardrobe and closed the door as his eyes widened awkwardly. "So why these ten dwarves, uncle?"

Thorin sighed. "I am going to start at the beginning. During my recent travels, when I stopped in Bree, I was a approached by a wizard who goes by the name of Gandalf the Grey. He told me that he could help us reclaim our home."

"I've been talking to some of the others in town and all of these dwarves are willing to join us."

"If you two agree to come then we'll have thirteen." Thorin had thought long and hard about this decision - he couldn't leave them here by themselves, and he knew that they were lethal warriors when they needed to be. Ever since the day they had got back Dwalin and Thorin had been on a hunting trip at least twice a week to hunt down a certain monster who was too cowardly to show his face. Thorin didn't see any reason for him to suddenly turn up on the quest, but then again he had suddenly done it three weeks ago. He knew that he couldn't bring Fili and not Kili so he had reluctantly come to that conclusion.

Fili and Kili looked at each other in surprise. "That's really sudden." Fili commented.

"I know. We've been planning it for a while, but I didn't want to say anything until it was definite."

The brothers nodded in understanding. "We'll do it." Fili grinned.

"We will?" Kili asked. "I mean, yeah we will! We will."

Thorin looked uncertain at that response - he had assumed Kili would jump up and down with excitement and Fili would be the unsure one but he nodded. "We will discuss the details over dinner tomorrow."

Fili and Kili nodded as they observed their new room - it was their favourite colours and was much brighter than it had previously been. It used to be rather boring if they were honest.

When they went back downstairs everyone had gone out, and Thorin said that they would be back tomorrow for the christmas meal. They were obviously going out to buy the presents and Fili and Kili realised that they should probably do so too. So they did.

By the time christmas came Fili gave Ori a new book with some pens, and as he expected, the scribe was thrilled. Fili received some new boots from Dwalin which he loved. Kili got the toymaker a new hat for he had lost his to the orcs. Thorin received furs from Bombur which he was shocked about - he was expected something to do with food.

Everyone had a blast and stayed inside as Thorin silently told Fili that Kili needed his gift as they led a confused Kili outside in the direction of the stables as Fili walked excitedly behind, having discussed this very gift with his uncle. Kili stared at the new pony in adornment and blinked to check that this was really happening.

"You got me the pony?!" He asked.

"Do you still want it?" Thorin asked, and chuckled as Kili bounded into his arms for a tight embrace.

"Of course I want him! I love him! Thank you!" He stroked the ponies nose and excitedly pulled out a carrot and watched as the pony took it with a nuzzle to Kili's shoulder as a thanks.

"The breeder said he has trouble getting to like knew people but he seems to really adore you."

"Yeah." Kili cooed as the pony let out a noise and stuck out his tongue to lick the air.

"What are you going to name him?" Fili asked.

Kili grinned. "Fili." Thorin and Fili stared at him in surprise and Kili snickered. "Kidding!" Thorin and Fili breathed in relief, making the brunette laugh harder as he watched the pony in wonder. "Jigallo."

"Ooh." Fili hummed. "I love it."

"Very unique." Thorin added. "Just like the pony."

Kili got to know the adorable creature as Thorin left. The archer eventually came and sat down next to his brother as Fili looked at him and smiled.

"I got you something." Fili declared.

"Fee, you didn't need to get me anything."

"I did." Fili handed Kili something wrapped in tissue and the archer unwrapped it and stared with a grin at the new quiver of arrows. Lud had gotten him a bow for christmas and he in return bought his frenemy a new pair of boots because they generally did owe each other. He laughed and hugged his brother as he pulled something out from behind him.

"I got something for you too."

Fili raised a skeptical eyebrow. "uh oh."

"Open it." Kili snarled playfully and Fili chuckled as he unwrapped the new dagger. "Yours got totally destroyed and I figured you could use a new one." Fili slung an arm over his little brother as he studied the intricate details laced into the dark blue hilt of the perfect dagger.

"I love it." Fili declared as he stood up. "You know what will make this christmas even better?"

"What?" Kili asked, but when he saw Fili's brewing smile he knew what he meant and followed him to the arcade where they grinned at one another before jumping onto the machine. The music played as they jumped on the arrows, laughing as it seemed as though they were two years old again. They crossed one another as people around them danced on the floor to the music. Everything felt right in that moment, and both brothers had learnt a valuable lesson from their not very fun adventure - appreciate the best moments whilst they last, and treasure them when bad things are happening.

Fili was just thankful to Mahal for letting his life steer in the normal direction once again. He knew that Kili would never truly be ok until Yaznug was burnt deep under the ground but he had his brother back and that's all he could ever dare ask for.

* * *

**The end! Well, it's a happy ending in its own way! Three chapters in one day, because I leave so the sequel will be up when I get back! I think this whole story will have three parts to it, so three separate stories. I rushed these because I'm going away so I'm sorry if they are not the best - I will probably make them better when I return and get up the sequel in about two weeks! Thank you for reviewing and know this isn't the end for poor Kili (or Fili). I don't know if the Durin family household even have christmas and I know in reality Thorin's company wouldn't be caught dead buying presents for one another but they are now hehe!** **Hope you enjoyed!**


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